Pair of home wins gives Clan a boost in the standings

By Clay Gray
Photos by Vaikunthe Banerjee

SFU’s women’s volleyball had a busy mid-October, hosting four teams in 10 days.  Capilano University, Western Washington University, Northwest Nazarene University, and Central Washington University all came to Burnaby Mountain to battle the Clan. SFU entered the four game stretch winless at home and in conference. The Clan went 2–1 through the first three games, to bring their season record to 4–13 (coverage of Saturday’s game will be in the next edition of the Peak).

The stretch began with the Clan’s first home win of the season against the Capilano Blues, sweeping them in three sets. The Blues had the lead only once during the evening. Katie Forsyth led the Clan in scoring with 14 kills. Jessica Young had 13 kills while Alanna Chan added 11 digs. The score for the three sets were 25–14, 25–15, and 25–19.

However, the Clan’s win streak wouldn’t make it to two games as they hit a stumbling block against Western Washington University. Although SFU’s women would put up a fight, the NCAA’s Div 2 14th ranked powerhouse was too much in the end. The Vikings defeated the Clan in three straight sets, 25–15, 25–17, and 25–13.

With the taste of defeat in their mouths, the Clan came into Thursday night’s game against the Northwest Nazarene University Crusaders with a strong desire to win at home again, and an eye for their first conference win. The evening saw the two well-matched teams exchanging sets, taking two apiece. The Clan won the first and third sets to bring the game to a thrilling 5th-set showdown. After a short break between the 4th and 5th sets, the teams took the court for the final and decisive battle. Although the Crusaders put up a fight, the Clan won  their first conference win, taking the set 15–11. The top scorer of the night was Madeleine Hait, she led the team with 14 kills and 20 points. Jessica Young also had a strong showing recording 17 kills and 17 points. The set scores were 25–20, 25–27, 25–23, 23–25, and 15–11. Head coach Lisa Sulatycki was proud of her team’s performance. “We didn’t give up and we fought until the last point.”

This was the first conference win for the Clan, improving them to 1–9 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.