It’s been a whirlwind fourth season for Capilano University Blues’ Sarah Hughes.
The Burnaby native has embraced the leadership role on her volleyball team with a roster mixed with four-year vets and first-year freshmen.
This past week, Hughes was the prime force in the Blues’ twin wins. On Friday she led a rally after a first set loss to overturn the Camosun Chargers 3-1 (16-25, 25-16, 25-21, 25-13) in North Vancouver.
A day later, she was on point in a rematch that went the distance before the Blues prevailed 3-2 (29-27, 25-17, 24-26, 21-25, 15-8).
“Our key factor was Sarah Hughes who was moving the ball around to different hitters,” said Cap coach Cal Wohlford. “Everyone as a team contributed to the win by either defence, blocking or serving… Everyone did something positive.”
The sweep over Camosun countered the previous week’s result, when first-place Vancouver Island blanked the Blues in back-to-back 3-0 scores. Capilano stands deadlocked in second place with Camosun at 7-3.
A setter, Hughes distributed the ball like a magician and spun the ball supremely for the Cap hitters in a two-win weekend sweep.
The St. Thomas More alumna added 38 set assists on Friday, then upped that total to 56 a day later, while also scoring nine points on well-timed dumps.
Over the two matches she added 23 digs, nine kills, four blocks and two aces.
She is currently ranked eighth in the PacWest in aces, having dealt 17 over 39 sets for an average of 0.44 per match, and 13th in digs, with 86 on the year.
