Douglas volleyball off to good start

Men and women looking confident two weeks in

By Davie Wong, Sports Reporter

As the soccer season begins to wind down, the volleyball season begins to start up. The first two weeks have been extraordinary for the Royals. On Saturday, October 24, the men capped off their second 2-0 week with a 3-0 win against the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) at home. The women also had a 2-0 week, beating UFV 3-1 earlier in the evening, leaving both the men’s and women’s squads undefeated at home.

That record came into jeopardy for the men on Friday night as UFV came out swinging and took them to five sets. The team bounced back after dropping the fourth set 25-23 to win in the fifth 15-8. It was a hard challenge for the Royals team that has looked dominant to date.

The beast that was UFV looked much tamer the next day as the Royals executed beautifully, taking the game 3-0. Coach Brad Hudson viewed his team’s victory on Saturday more as a return to form than anything else. “Yesterday, I think we just weren’t invested emotionally in what we were doing. We kind of just showed up to show up. Today I thought you saw a much more intent from a group that wasn’t pleased with how they played yesterday and wanted to show themselves a little better”.

Meanwhile, the women’s team also had a very successful weekend. They bounced back from their loss in week one to Capilano, where they played hard and looked equal to their opponent. Playing against the mid-ranked Cascades, the Royals came together well, handing UFV a 3-0 loss on Friday, followed by a 3-1 loss on Saturday. The team seemed much more improved from last week and only seemed to get better as the sets went on.

Coach Kyra Iannone had this to say about her team’s effort: “Our goal was to stay undefeated at home and we accomplished that. After our loss we talked about being mentally tough and being able to push through it. I think it was really good for the girls to go out there after a loss and bounce back and make some key plays”.

She believes the girls can use the momentum from this week and push through the competition in the coming weeks.

Catch the teams next week as they play the College of the Rockies Avalanche in back-to-back home games on Saturday and Sunday. The women’s games start at 6 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. on Sunday, while the men’s are at 8 p.m. and 1 p.m. respectively.