MVB recap:
On Friday October 18, in front of a raucous capacity crowd the Avalanche Men's Volleyball team opened their regular season with a 3-0 win over the defending PACWEST Champion VIU Mariners. Taking control of the match early with tough serving, the Avs forced the Mariners out of system. The Avalanche were paced offensively by returning all-Canadian Diego Policarpo who led with 20 points, with Cade Schindel chipping in with 11. Reigning PACWEST Setter of the year Boston Thiessen captained the offence with 31 assists but Coach Farrero had nothing but praise for the defense of the Avs.
"I thought we were extremely tough mentally and tough defensively tonight. Every time we needed a big play, we got one and some of our substitutions off the bench were tremendous. We took control of the match early but in the middle of the second set the Mariners had a chance to take it back from us and Noah McFadzen and Albert Francisco came in off the bench to help us win two really long rallies, preventing VIU from taking momentum back from us. We were able to keep them off balance for the rest of the match and Diego and Cade carried us offensively to get that first match sweep".
Cade Schindel was named player of the match.
The second match of the weekend was a completely different story as the Mariners jumped in front 2-0 before the Avs were able to right the ship, winning the final three sets of the match to complete the reverse sweep. After an uncharacteristic slow start, Diego Policarpo took over the match with a spectacular 28 kill, 32-point performance but player of the match, Libero Reece Clarke was the unsung hero with tremendous reception throughout against relentless serving from VIU.
In addition to Policarpo's offensive brilliance, opposite Jace Wilson tallied 11 points and Ethan Braam 9 in the five-set win. Boston Thiessen and Brett Kester combined for 39 assists from the setter position and once again Coach Cisco Farrero had tremendous praise for the effort and resilience of the Avs in completing the weekend sweep.
"This was a classic PacWest battle with VIU. We knew they would be better than Friday night and they were able to catch us a bit off our game early in the match. Our group is learning that each match has a personality of its own, but it takes a certain level of focus and intent to win in our conference. We didn't have that in the first two sets. Our three captains, Policarpo, Braam and Clarke stayed calm and steady even after we fell behind, carrying us with their play and allowing our entire group to find our footing. Once we were able to get momentum back on our side, we were able to impose our will on the match. Our reception, led by Reece Clarke, really tightened up and then Diego took over the match late in the fourth and helped us put away the fifth set. This was a huge weekend for us, the Mariners are a great program and its feels great to get two wins to start the season."
