The Winnipeg Wesmen led the nation in digs and, Friday night, they got down low and summoned possibly their biggest rally of the season.
The Wesmen wiped out a 22-17 deficit with a six-point run in the pivotal third set and eventually prevailed in the match, handing the Fraser Valley Cascades a 3-1 (25-23, 22-25, 27-25, 25-19) defeat in the first match of the best-of-three Canada West women's volleyball quarter-final at the Duckworth Centre.
The two teams will meet again Saturday (5 p.m. CT) with the Wesmen looking to advance to the semifinal round, and Fraser Valley hoping to stay alive.
The Wesmen led the country in digs in the conference season, and their defensive prowess has been a hallmark throughout the season. Friday, they had a mere 81 digs with five players in double figures.
Facing the prospect of going down 2-1 in the match, the Wesmen took to rallying off the serve of reserve
Kely Warmington.
Emma Parker had two kills,
Selva Planincic another and the Wesmen stifled the Cascades into three attack errors as they took a 23-22 lead.
The Wesmen were also buoyed by 14 UFV service errors — compared to five from Winnipeg — and some came at critical moments, such as Mo Likness' miss with the Cascades holding set point in the third at 24-23.
"You're playing (on your) home court, you should be serving better than the other team coming in," Wesmen head coach
Phil Hudson said. "A few momentum swings that and the big difference was when we were down we just kept clawing away.
"… Every rally is just as important as the next one, and today we came back really well and I'm just proud of how the kids hung in there."
Ashleigh Laube and
Emma Parker led the way for the Wesmen with 12 kills apiece. Parker added a playoff career-high 22 digs and Laube had 13, as Winnipeg once again showed the defensive resiliency that led to it leading the country in digs.
Middle blocker
Haille Bujan had a season-high 11 kills on 17 swings and added an ace and three block assists.
The Cascades, who finished the season tied with the Wesmen but were narrowly squeezed out on the sets won/lost tiebreaker, lost for the first time in five outings. They came in having won nine of their last 10 in conference play.
The relentless duo of Gabrielle and Lauren Attieh once again carried the Cascades, with the former posting 24 kills and 18 digs, and her sister notching 20 and 13. Libero Emily Matsui had a match-high 27 digs.
"I think our serve-passing just has to be better (Saturday)," UFV head coach Janelle Rozema said. "It affected us here tonight.
?
"I think we've gotta tighten up on some of those errors that we made tonight. Tonight was just gaining some experience, so (Saturday) we're going to come in more experienced."
