VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds women's volleyball team takes its perfect 6-0 Canada West record into Winnipeg this weekend, for a Friday-Saturday doubleheader against the 3-5 Wesmen. Both matches are scheduled for 4 p.m. PT at the Duckworth Centre in the Manitoba capital.
  
The 'Birds defended home court during UBC Super Weekend against the Calgary Dinos, winning 3-1 in both matches. Saturday's encounter saw UBC come back from a 22-17 fourth-set deficit by winning eight points in a row to close out the weekend. Laura MacTaggart (Lacombe, Alta.), Danielle Brisebois (Bolton, Ont.), and Alissa Coulter (Calgary) all hit the double-digit mark in kills in both matches against Calgary.
 
Brisebois is currently sixth in the league in kills per set with 3.95 while Coulter is eighth with 3.26. MacTaggart is averaging 2.89, a figure that puts her in 14th. Middle Emily Cicon (Courtenay, B.C.) is 11th in the Canada West with 1.00 blocks per set, while setter Alessandra Gentile (Port Moody, B.C.) is third in the conference, recording 10.40 assists per set. As a team, UBC is hitting at a league-best .313 clip, and is also second in blocking with 2.45 blocks per set.
 
The Wesmen are on a three-game win streak, which began when they toppled then-CIS No. 1 UBC Okanagan in the second match – which went the distance – of the series on Halloween weekend. Winnipeg then returned home to complete a sweep of Thompson Rivers last weekend.
 
A few key Winnipeg players UBC will be facing are outside hitters Ozana Nikolic and Sonia Rossy. Nikolic is tied for second in the league in kills (132), kills per set (4.40), and points (145.5). Rossy is tied for fourth in the Canada West in digs with 86 overall. 
 
Winnipeg is eighth out of 13 teams in the conference in hitting percentage (.170) and 12th in blocks per set (1.52).

Last season, the Thunderbirds and Wesmen split a pair of matches at War Memorial Gymnasium in Vancouver, with Winnipeg winning the Friday game in five sets before UBC rebounded with a triumph in straight sets.