Abbotsford, B.C. – A back-and-forth game that saw big momentum swings in both directions ended with the Fraser Valley Cascades riding their home-crowd advantage to a 3-2 win over the Calgary Dinos Saturday night from the UFV Athletic Centre.
The Dinos held 1-0 and 2-1 leads, but couldn’t put away the game Cascades in another tough Canada West road battle the finished 25-19, 23-25, 25-14, 15-25, 8-15.
Louis Kunstmann led all players with 24 kills on the night. Tyler Funk added another 10 to go with nine digs, while Jackson Meier hammered home eight kills while hitting .533.
Jonas Van Huizen had a big night for UFV, leading the squad with 17 kills and nine digs. Nimo Benne also had a strong showing with 13 kills, five digs, two blocks and five service aces.
A back-and-forth opening set quickly went the way of the Dinos thanks to a big 10-3 run to blow things open. After UFV led 11-10, Kunstmann hammered home four kills during the Calgary run that also featured two kills and a solo block by Meier. Rookie Cole Czepuryk continued his strong second semester with a big kill to close out the opening set at put the Dinos ahead.
After a big start that saw the Cascades go ahead 13-7 to start the second, the Dinos responded with a 5-0 and 9-2 run to take a 16-15 edge of their own. In the only set where things stayed tight down to the end, the two teams were knotted up at 23-23 when Benne and Roan McCarthy were able to find the floor on two straight plays to just give UFV the tight set win and even things up.
It was all Calgary in the third. After an ace and a kill by Meier, UFV quickly found themselves in a 7-1 hole and called an early timeout. A small rally cut the gap to 12-8, but the Dinos responded with another 5-0 burst for the big lead before finishing things off with another 5-0 run for the 2-1 set lead.
Just when it looked like the Dinos had things figured out, Fraser Valley was able to battle back. Leading 14-12, the Cascades got a little separation to go ahead 17-12 before getting red hot late and finishing the set on a 7-1 spurt to tie this one up at 2-2.
UFV continued their run with a 5-0 start to the fifth and the Dinos were never able to recover. An ace by Czepuryk brought the Scarlet & Gold within two at 7-5, but the Cascades answered right back to go ahead 13-6 before closing things out.
The Dinos return home for their final home series of the 2024-25 season next week, hosting Trinity Western for a pair of games inside the Jack Simpson Gym, starting Friday.
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