The Avalanche had trouble containing the visiting Vancouver Island University Mariners this weekend, as the men split their record, while the women struggled through two losses.
The women dropped three straight sets to the Mariners on Friday, and while they put up a better fight on Saturday, the Mariners again managed another three-set victory.
The men had a good start on Friday, winning two straight sets before the Mariners fought back and took the third. However, the Avs rallied for the final set and won by a two-point margin to win the match.
"Friday we came out and followed the game plan very well and executed very well," said Avalanche men's coach Steve Kamps. "It was a great match, VIU came in and played very well, played some excellent defence.
"It was a battle—each set went to within two points so it was very entertaining volleyball."
However, while the team savoured their win on Friday, they couldn't replicate that success in a rematch the following day.
"Came out Saturday and was just kind of flat again—that's two weekends in a row now," added Kamps, referencing last weekend's record of a Friday win against the Camosun College Chagers, before losing their rematch the day after.
"After a big win on Friday, we seem to have trouble getting up for the match on Saturday, or whatever you want to call it," said Kamps. "It seems like we're content with the win on Friday and we don't prepare as much with the little things on Saturday that aren't there, as they are on Friday, so it's something we hope to fix very soon and it'll be nice to start winning both at home."
The Avs have another home set thiscoming weekend, as the men face the top-ranked Douglas College Royals, while the opposing women occupy fifth place in the Pacwest standings.