Brent Mutis
CapU Blues sports info
On a night where big kill totals accumulated for two of the Capilano Blues main weapons, it might be easy to think they simply outgunned the opposition on the way to a 3-1 home win (set scores: 25-22, 29-27, 20-25, 25-21) over the Camosun College Chargers.
It's true Luke Tiegen (17 kills) and Shub Wander (13 kills) were key parts of the equation but Capilano’s team defence stood out as the men’s side earned full marks for their first win of the PACWEST season in their home opener.
Connor Collinson-Lea was impressive from his libero spot, keeping rallies alive by staring down multiple would-be kills from the Chargers. The outside hitters pitched in as well with both Tiegen and Wander digging deep to keep balls off the floor.
CapU didn’t have as much presence at the net as they might want, recording just two blocks on the night, but their willingness to leave their feet to rescue balls from the hardwood meant no easy points for the Chargers. Serve receive was a strength for CapU on the night as well with first touch mostly giving setter Liam Martin a good chance at selecting one of his hitters for a quality swing
An area the Blues will want to improve is in the service game as several errors handed points to Camosun, particularly in the third set as the visitors scratched and clawed to keep the match alive.
Capilano ended things in the fourth set with a Xavier Masztak kill, one of eight for him on the night, setting up match point which went to the Blues to seal the deal as Camosun’s Lachlan Scherger contacted the net on the game’s final play.
The teams square off again Saturday in a 3 p.m. start in North Vancouver.
