Avalanche Survive

COTR Avalanche 3
Capilano Blues 2

For the fourth time this season the Avalanche and Blues went the distance in a thrilling five set marathon with the top seeded Avalanche surviving to advance to the gold medal match.

The Avalanche opened the match with a 25-19 victory and had momentum heading into the second set.  This second frame was tighter with points going back and forth with the Blues tying the match using extra points and earning a 29-27 win.

With the teams switching sides the Avalanche found their grove again in the third set with the Player of the Year Dylan Annala heating up and starting to find holes in the Blues defence they could take advantage of.  That said, it was a highly competitive set with the Avalanche winning 25-20 and were in the driver’s seat. 

The Blues didn’t go away quietly and in the fourth set pushed the pace of play led by Kyle Hinchey and Luke Tiegan to even the match with a 25-23 victory.  With the win we were off to a fifth set for the fourth time this season between these two schools. 

Despite this being a #1 versus #4 match, these two are very even and left it all on the floor.  In the end it was the veteran leadership of the Avalanche that found an extra gear to win 15-12 and earn a berth into the PACWEST gold medal match along with an automatic berth into the CCAA national championship for the second straight year.

Annala led the Avalanche with 23 kills* and Diego Policarpo showed their impressive 1-2 punch as he finished with 16 kills.*  They had great secondary scoring from Julius Molnar and Luke Margenau who ended the match with an outstanding block.   Setter Boston Thiessen ran a very balanced attack and was named the Player of the Match.

Hinchey was the Blues Player of the Match with 17 kills* and Tiegan chipped in with 10.*

The Avalanche will meet the VIU Mariners in Saturday night’s gold medal match at 8:00pm, while the Blues will have a quick turnaround and will meet the Douglas Royals in the bronze at 3:00pm.

*stats are unofficial