VANCOUVER - This weekend's Canada West Final Four will feature the three top-ranked teams in the conference, and one unranked CIS newcomer looking for its first trip to nationals. One win will be enough to get any participant through to Regina next week, as the top three finishers will all qualify for the CIS tournament.
TICKETS /
LIVE VIDEO STREAM
UBC, Trinity Western and Manitoba are all regulars in the Canada West and CIS playoff scenes, but for UBC Okanagan, this is unfamiliar ground. UBCO was 12-10 in the regular season, and the Heat had never won a playoff game in CIS competition before last week, but now their resume includes a series sweep of CIS No. 2 Brandon, so nobody can say they don't belong here with the rest of the conference's top teams.
The Final Four starts with top-seed UBC going against fourth-seed UBCO on Friday, February 21 at 6 p.m., followed by Trinity Western versus Manitoba at 8 p.m. The winners get a CIS berth and a shot at Canada West gold on Saturday at 7 p.m. The losers play for bronze and the final CIS tournament spot at 5 p.m.
UBC THUNDERBIRDS
CIS No. 1 (18-4 regular season)
Last week: Bye
You don't get to be six-time defending national champions by getting complacent or easing up when things are going in your favour, so the T-Birds probably aren't too happy about the way they closed out the regular season, going 4-4 in their last eight games and losing the last two on their way to playoffs. The 'Birds have won the CIS title twice without taking home the Canada West gold during their current streak, but look for head coach
Doug Reimer and the gang to use this weekend not just to qualify for nationals, but to really get back to form and prove that they are still the clear favourites in the West.
The good news for the 'Birds is that all three of the teams they have lost to this season are already out of the picture. Brandon was bounced in a surprising result by the seventh-seed UBCO Heat, Alberta lost on the road to Manitoba last week, and Mount Royal never qualified for the playoffs to begin with. UBC is 6-0 against the other three Final Four teams, with an 18-4 sets won/lost record against them.
The T-Birds were the conference's top offence by a significant margin. Conference kills leader
Lisa Barclay averages 4.26 kills per set to lead the group, while her outside hitting partner
Rosie Schlagintweit chips in over three per set. Alyssa Coulter and
Juliana Kaufmanis both average more than a kill per set off the bench as well. At middle blocker,
Abbey Keeping and
Mariah Bruinsma are both very effective two-way players, combining for about 2.50 kills and 2.30 blocks per set. Both are also very dangerous at the service line, helping the T-Birds rank as the top serving team and the second-best defensive team in the conference this year.
TRINITY WESTERN SPARTANS
CIS No. 3 (17-5 regular season)
Last week: W 3-0, W 3-0 vs Regina
UBC may have been the top serving team in the conference for the season, but Trinity Western definitely takes those honours for last week specifically. The Spartans dispatched the CIS host Regina Cougars with a barrage of deadly serves to keep them out of system offensively, and they also picked up a lot of points directly off aces. In game one, the Spartans notched eight aces, with five of them coming from Royal Richardson. In game two, Richardson racked up another five aces as her team tallied 12 from the line, compared to just three service errors. For the season, the Spartans finished fourth in average service aces, which helped them to their conference-best .102 opponent hitting percentage,
But even more so than their impressive serving, the Spartans' next-level blocking scheme is what really set them apart from the pack defensively. TWU averages 3.41 blocks per set, while no other team in the conference averages more than 2.80. In fact, the distance between top-ranked TWU's blocking averages and third-ranked UBC's averages is about the same as the difference between UBC and last-place Thompson Rivers.
The top two individual blockers in the conference are Spartans. Senior middles Alicia Perrin and Cassie Gano average 1.61 and 1.37 blocks per set respectively, and freshman backup Katelyn Devaney averages 1.60. With three dominant defensive options to rotate in and out of the action in the middle, the Spartans are always going to have someone relatively fresh to meet the point of attack this weekend. Perrin is also a major contributor to the offence, averaging 2.71 kills per set. Outside hitter Sophie Carpenter leads the offence with 4.16 kills per set, which was good for second in the conference.
MANITOBA BISONS
CIS No. 5 (14-8 regular season)
Last week: W 3-1, W 3-1 vs Alberta
The Bisons are the youngest team participating in the Final Four, with only one senior on the roster and none in their usual starting rotation. But after Alberta swept UBC to close out the regular season, Manitoba swept Alberta in the opening round of playoffs. That alone is enough of a reason to take the Bisons very, very seriously, regardless of the age or experience level of this group. The Alberta series was the first home playoff matchup for the Bisons since the 2009-10 season.
The deadly duo of Taylor Pischke and Rachel Cockrell on the outside really dictates the success of this team. Together they average over seven kills per set to lead the offence, and both are capable contributors defensively, averaging over four digs and a block per set combined. Jordan Milne anchors things in the middle, averaging 2.02 kills and 0.99 blocks per set.
The issue for the Bisons is their depth. They don't have the kinds of options behind Pischke and Cockrell that teams like UBC and TWU have, which can become an issue in the kinds of high-intensity environments they will face this week and, they hope, next week at the CIS tournament. They also struggled quite a bit against their Final Four opponents in the regular season, with just one win (against UBCO) in six matches against the entire group. During this season, Manitoba defeated six CIS ranked teams (in conference matches: Alberta, UBC Okanagan, Brandon, Winnipeg plus Dalhousie and Toronto in non-conference matches).
The Bisons are coming in hot, having won six of their last seven matches, so the Bisons will be hoping momentum makes all the difference as they prepare for their next round of meetings with the conference's elite.
UBC OKANAGAN HEAT
CIS unranked (12-10 regular season)
Last week: W 3-0, W 3-1 at Brandon
The Heat are perhaps the most interesting case of all the Final Four teams. On one hand, all the other teams at the tournament are ranked in the top five nationally, while UBCO is unranked. On the other hand, they beat up the CIS No. 2 Brandon Bobcats to earn their ticket here, while only one other team (Manitoba) even played a ranked opponent in round one of the playoffs.
But does that make them the hottest team in the competition, or give them the most momentum? Hard to say, given that UBCO actually lost eight of its last 10 games of the regular season before that dramatic upset in Brandon. An optimist might look at that and say it was just a product of their schedule, since six of those losses were to CIS top-five teams. But the pessimist would counter with the fact that those teams are in Vancouver this weekend, standing between UBCO and a conference medal plus a trip to nationals. And the other two losses were to Regina, who are also still in the mix, waiting as hosts of the CIS tournament.
That doesn't mean the Heat are going to be satisfied by what they did in the first round against Brandon for the program's first-ever CIS playoff victories. This may be a young team in terms of how long they've been a part of the CIS, but they also have three fifth-year seniors on the roster, which is more than any other Final Four team. That should help this group stay confident and focused as they look to establish themselves as real contenders in Canada West and CIS volleyball. Libero Lenai Schmidt and outside hitter Jillian Festival are regular starters, while Kendra Wayling provides some depth and experience in the middle.
But the player to watch might be third-year middle Katy Klomps, who averages just under two kills per set on .298 hitting, putting her among conference leaders in attack efficiency. She also averages 1.45 blocks per set to make her one of the leaders in that category too, so she really drives things both offensively and defensively for the Heat.
-30-
