The VIU Mariners played a total of five games between two sports and three teams through the weekend.
On Friday, January 31, and Saturday, February 1, the VIU Mariners Women’s Volleyball Team, Men’s Volleyball Team, and Men’s Hockey Team played five games collectively. While the Mariners Volleyball teams were able to sweep Columbia Bible College (CBC) on their own court, the Men’s Hockey team were unable to beat the BCIHL leaders, Trinity Western University (TWU), at home to complete a perfect Mariners weekend.
The Women’s Volleyball team began the weekend’s competition on Friday night with an unsurprising 3-0 victory over CBC. The Mariners started strong, winning the first period 25-17, and carried the momentum into the second, winning 25-12. Although the third period saw closer competition, the Mariners finished their clean sweep with a 25-23 lead to close the period and the match.
The Men’s Volleyball team took to the court just after the Women’s game to continue the Mariners’ dominance. While the first period was close, resulting in a Mariners 28-26 win, they would keep the ship steady as they continued to win the second and third periods, 25-19 then 25-20, to secure a 3-0 victory.
On Saturday afternoon, the Mariners Women’s Volleyball Team picked up where they left off, taking the first period with a 25-15 lead. It was smooth sailing from that point on, as the second and third period would end with the same score: 25-12 for the Mariners.
The Mariners Women’s Volleyball Team have pushed their win streak to 20 games and remain undefeated on the season. The top of the PACWEST standings appear to be uncontested as Camosun—second in the standings—are a total of 10 points below VIU.
The Mariners Men’s Volleyball Team were able to complete the VIU sweep over CBC following the Women’s game on Saturday; however, CBC put up a fight. The first period saw another strong start from the Mariners, as they eventually won the period 25-17. CBC came back to take the second, 27-25. The Mariners didn’t allow a full comeback, however, as they went on to take the third, 25-17, then the fourth period, 25-22.
Back at home, the Mariners Men’s Hockey Team were unable to protect their rink, falling 5-1 to the TWU Spartans.
TWU came out of the gates strong in the first period, scoring the first goal of the game only two and a half minutes in. With only two minutes left of the first, Brett Witala would even things up for the Mariners, scoring a goal off the assist from Garrett Dunlop.
Although the game was even going into the second, the Spartans would net two more for a 3-1 lead. In the third, TWU would continue to run up the score, finishing 5-1.
Despite the loss, Witala received the second star of the game and goalkeeper Jeremy Balyk finished the game with 60 minutes played and 34 saves for the 39 shots on goal.
The Mariners Men’s Hockey Team remains in the third place spot on the BCIHL standings, but they’ll get another shot at TWU and a chance to move up in the standings on Saturday, February 15.
The Mariners Women’s Volleyball Team don’t get a bye this weekend as they prepare to keep the streak alive against the visiting Capilano Blues on Saturday, February 8, and Sunday, February 9.
Likewise, the Mariners Men’s Volleyball Team look to extend their 12 game win-streak as they also host Capilano for games on Saturday and Sunday. Moreover, the Mariners Men’s Volleyball Team find themselves in a three-way tie for the first spot in the PACWEST standings against Douglas and Capilano. Stay tuned: these games could determine who finishes the season on top.