VANCOUVER - The top-ranked Thunderbirds resume conference play and their 10-match win streak at home this weekend. UBC hosts the Winnipeg Wesmen on Friday and Saturday looking to pad its lead atop the Canada West women's volleyball standings. Both games will be streamed with live statistics at
CanadaWest.TV.
GAME TIMES (both games at War Memorial Gymnasium, Vancouver)
Friday, Jan. 11
6 p.m. - Winnipeg at No. 1 UBC
Saturday, Jan. 12
5 p.m. - Winnipeg at No. 1 UBC
No. 1 UBC Thunderbirds (11-1)
After starting the year with a split against rival Trinity Western, the Thunderbirds are a perfect 10-0 since and once again on top of the conference standings and the national rankings. UBC has lost just two sets in those past 10 matches, and they have a favourable schedule to close out the regular season, with three of their four remaining opponents owning losing records.
The UBC offence looked unstoppable at times in 2012. The 'Birds are hitting .265 as a team, easily leading the conference. That's well above the league-leading percentages UBC hit last year and the year before too. No other Canada West team is hitting above .230 this year, so the 'Birds really had their offence firing on another level to start the season and will try to stay hot for the playoff run.
Senior setter
Brina Derksen-Bergen (Abbotsford, BC) is quarterbacking the offence with a conference-best 10.21 assists per game, and she remains an effective two-way player, helping out on the block frequently.
Lisa Barclay (Brandon, MB) and
Shanice Marcelle (Victoria, BC) form probably the most dangerous outside hitter duo in the nation to take advantage of all those Derksen-Bergen assists. Barclay is averaging 3.51 kills per game, putting her fourth in the conference, while Marcelle is fifth at 3.33. Both are big contributors defensively, with only libero
Briana Liau Kent (Vancouver, BC) averaging more digs.
Winnipeg Wesmen (4-8)
The Wesmen went through a rocky 0-5 start before getting things going to end the first half of the season and keep their playoff hopes alive. They are currently just two games back of the final playoff spot, but with two matches against UBC looming this weekend, it probably feels like a bigger gap than that.
They do still have four games ahead against Thompson Rivers and Saskatchewan, who have just one win between them this season, so if the Wesmen can make something happen against the T-Birds they will actually be in a pretty good spot to make a playoff push. That's a pretty big “if” though, with Winnipeg rating as one of the worst offensive teams in the conference, needing to keep up with the best.
They do have conference kills leader Ozana Nikolic, averaging just shy of four kills per game, but they are very short of offensive options after that, and even Nikolic is hitting only .124 for the season, which is just under the team's average.
Defensively the Wesmen lack any impact blockers, but they have been a fairly tough side to score points against thanks to strong overall team defence and the play of libero Carleen Kruschel, who is second Canada West with 3.56 digs per game.
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