THE Capilano Blues women's volleyball team found themselves in an unfamiliar position last Friday night for a Pacwest league match: at home.
The Blues had been wandering since Oct. 22, playing eight straight matches on the road after beginning their season with four straight home wins. The road trip started well as the Blues won two over Camosun to push their record to 6-0 and climb to No. 2 in the national rankings. But from there the road got bumpy as Capilano lost four out of five, culminating with a 1-3 loss Jan. 6 against Columbia Bible College, a team they'd beaten twice at home without losing a single set to start the season.
On Friday night Capilano Sportsplex was the scene as the Blues played a home game for the first time in 12 weeks.
"That's a lot of time without volleyball," said head coach Wayne Desjardins with a laugh after the game. "We didn't know which bench was ours, the attendants didn't know how to set up for volleyball."
They did eventually figure out where to put the chairs and how to raise the net and, once it was all set up, the Blues showed just how happy they were to be back at home with a convincing 3-0 win over the Camosun Chargers.
"Sooo happy to be playing in our gym again," said fifth-year starter and team leader Michelle Torresan after the match. "We want to make sure we make a statement: This is our home."
Torresan actually sat out the match with a back injury but the team's healthy players got the job done well and followed it up with another 3-0 win the next night. The Blues now get to enjoy the benefits of having all of those road games in the bank - they're at Capilano for three more consecutive weekends to finish out a stretch of eight matches at home. Now ranked No. 8 in the country, they've got an ambitious goal for those eight games.
"Our goal right now is 8-0 on this homestand," said Desjardins. This week they host College of the Rockies on
Thursday and Friday and then the big guns come to town as No. 4-ranked University of the Fraser Valley visits Jan. 27-28 and No. 1-ranked Vancouver Island University comes Feb. 3-4. They want to win them all but, more importantly, they want to prove that they match up well against two of the best teams in the country.
"The most important things is to get our level of play to what we expect it to be," said Desjardins. "The wins and losses are going to take care of themselves. What we're trying to do is to establish a level of play that is up to being able to beat the teams at provincials."
The Blues are a balanced team that doesn't rely on one go-to superstar, said Desjardins.
"You could look at our roster and say, 'Who's going to be on the national team? Nope, nope, not her, not her.' But we've got some very good all-around players. In our league you have to be able to do a lot of things well - if you don't you're going to get exposed."
Third-year setter Ashley Cousens is the on-court leader, said Desjardins. "The engine that runs the train is Ashley Cousens. She runs miles - she's putting in marathon miles to run down balls."
Cousens also chips in with her blocking, ranking eighth in the league in blocks per set despite playing the setter position.
When she's healthy Torresan is the team's other leader, taking charge on both offence and defence. "She's probably the best all-around player in the league," said Desjardins. "She's right up there in digs, she's third in the league in kills, she is our second best passer, in first term she was our best server for percentages. She has all facets."
Shoring up the defence is third-year libero Jacqueline Caverly, first in the league in digs per set.
"For people that come into the gym and see her for the first time, she astounds them. Not us, we see it all the time," said Desjardins. "Balls aren't down until she cannot possibly make the play. She'll go everywhere. She goes sideline to sideline and net to baseline. She plays the whole court."
Power hitters Sydney Thornton and Kate Bilodeau have played very well in Torresan's absence while rookie middle blocker Ashley Van Acken has been solid all year, ranking second in the league in blocks per set.
So far the league is shaping into a three-way race between Capilano, VIU and UFV for the provincial title. Last season Capilano finished third after losing to VIU in a grueling five-set provincial semifinal.
VIU will host the national championships at the end of this season, potentially setting up a battle between Cap and UFV for Pacwest's only other berth in the national championships. But there's a lot of volleyball to be played before that.
"I think we're on the right track," said Desjardins. "(The top teams) are back and forth. When it gets to provincials it'll be, 'Who's going to blink?' Hopefully our eyes will be wide open."
. . .
The Blues host COTR at Capilano Sportsplex Thursday and Friday night with the women starting at 6 p.m. each night and the men following at around 7: 45 p.m.
