Brent Mutis
CapU Blues sports info
The Capilano Blues have rattled off win streaks before, but only once of this length and not in 21 years.
With an unblemished trip to College of the Rockies as their final act of the 2025 calendar, the Blues now sit 10-0 in PACWEST play and didn't drop a set in holding the host Rockies, the No. 14-ranked team in the country at the time, to single digits in two of the six sets they played. Their start to the season matches the 2004-05 Blues team coached by Wayne Desjardins and featuring the likes of Jennifer Dickson and Melissa and Michelle Alblas.
Friday, the Blues made an early statement with a 25-8 win in the opening set and followed with set scores of 25-18 and 25-23 in a match that took only about an hour and 15 minutes. They followed that with another 3-0 victory with set scores of 25-16, 25-18 and 25-9.
Returning to her home part of the province and her former school's gym, Abby Betker was on top of her game with 29 kills for the weekend. Perhaps more impressive was her passing on serve receive, which continues to be a strength. Betker made repeated tidy receptions, giving Blues setters Mollie English and Alix Schewaga an easy time of teeing up the hitters.
One beneficiary was middle blocker Natalie Rourke, who had such clean looks on attack she made no errors for the weekend, recording 12 kills – eight on Saturday – and a hitting percentage of .500.
Rourke also totaled five aces in the two matches, as well as six blocks, and she continues to lead the PACWEST in blocks per set.
All players on the road trip saw floor time and made contributions, with rookies Addison Keating and Quinn Laird both providing a clean service game coming off the bench, the latter chalking up two aces.
The Blues have now completed half of their 20-game PACWEST schedule and have yet to drop a match. The closest they came to losing was a Nov. 15 game against Vancouver Island University (VIU), which won the first two sets only to have CapU come back for the reverse sweep.
Capilano hits the exam and holiday break as one of the top teams in Canada. They return to action Jan. 9 and 10 with home games against Douglas College.
