Files from U of C Sports Information
CALGARY – The UBC Thunderbirds return to the post season after a one year absence with a playoff series this weekend versus the defending CIS national champion Calgary Dinos at the Jack Simpson Gym.
The best-of-three Canada West quarterfinal series opens Thursday night at 6:00 p.m. PT and continues Friday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. PT. If necessary, game 3 goes Saturday afternoon with first serve again at 3:00 p.m.
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The winner of the series advances to the Canada West Final Four next weekend at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. From there, at least three teams will advance to the national tournament at Trinity Western University in Langley, B.C. TWU already has a berth secured as the host team, so if the third-seeded Spartans win their quarterfinal series this weekend against sixth-place Thompson Rivers, all four teams at next week's Final Four will have an automatic bid to the CIS championship.
The other quarterfinal series this weekend has Brandon heading to Winnipeg to face the Manitoba Bisons in the 4-vs-5 tilt.
For the Dinos and Thunderbirds, it's their second quarterfinal meeting in four seasons – the last coming in 2008 when UBC scored a 2-0 victory at War Memorial Gym in Vancouver over a Dinos team that was making its post-season debut under head coach Rod Durrant. Since that time, Calgary has posted three consecutive second-place finishes in Canada West regular season action.
The season series between the Dinos and Thunderbirds went to Calgary back on Jan. 14-15, but it certainly wasn't easy. UBC gave their hosts all they could handle, but Calgary still managed to come out on top with a pair of 3-2 victories. The teams also met once in non-conference action at the TWU tournament in early January, with Calgary winning 3-1.
Here's a look at the two sides in this weekend's playoff clash.
UBC THUNDERBIRDS
Conference record: 7-11
Conference standings: 7th
Last week: swept by Thompson Rivers (3-2, 3-0)
While UBC's 7-11 conference record was enough to claim the final spot in the Canada West post season, the Thunderbirds were not an easy out for anyone. In addition to taking Calgary to five sets both nights, UBC also had Alberta at match point in the third set before eventually succumbing in five.
The T-Birds have played some of their best volleyball in the new year, including a 3-2 victory over the Brandon Bobcats. UBC is 5-5 over their last 10 games and will take their tenacious style back to Calgary where they had as much success as possible without actually winning a match.
"We've been competing harder and harder each weekend as the season has gone on. Even though we have experienced our share of tough defeats in those five set losses, we enter this weekend understanding what we need to do as a group to compete against a very tough Calgary squad," said UBC head coach
Richard Schick.
Fourth-year
Demijan Savija and rookie
Ben Chow, both outside hitters, led the way for the Thunderbirds in their two matches against the Dinos back in January and, unsurprisingly, led UBC in kills over the course of the regular season.
Milo Warren and
Joe Cordonier were the other two players who racked up more than 100 kills on the year.
Defensively, libero
Blair Bann is the most decorated in conference history. The two-time CIS and three-time Canada West Libero of the Year recorded his 1,000th career dig earlier this season and set a new all-time Canada West record for digs in a season with 283 over 10 conference matches (3.72 per game).
No. 3 CALGARY DINOS
Conference record: 16-2
Conference standings: 2nd
Last week: swept by Alberta (3-2, 3-0)
Calgary's dream of an undefeated season came crashing back to earth last weekend with a two-game sweep at the hands of the Alberta Golden Bears to close out the regular season.
After dropping just nine sets through the first 16 matches of the season, the Dinos added to that total by two thirds as the Bears came out on top of a hard-fought 3-2 win Friday night before dominating Saturday en route to a straight-sets victory.
Thanks to the short week, however, the Dinos are able to regroup quickly and get back to it Thursday night as they play host to UBC – a Thunderbirds team that was responsible for four of those nine set losses.
The Dinos finished the season at or near the top of most statistical categories in Canada West, leading the conference in hitting percentage (.287), assists (13.03/set), and kills (14.0/set). The key cog in that potent offensive machine was and still is Graham Vigrass, last year's national championship MVP who finished second in hitting percentage and third in total kills individually.
Vigrass and David Egan – who finished fourth in the conference in hitting percentage – had trouble finding consistency last weekend against Alberta, however, and re-establishing that middle attack will be a key consideration for Durrant and the rest of the coaching staff.
Curtis James and Allen Meek can contribute big numbers on the outside along with Chris Hoag – but it has been the middle that has led the way this season. Vigrass scored 311.5 points on the year – more than 100 better than James, the team's second-place finisher.
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