KELOWNA – The UBC Okanagan Heat defeated the visiting UBC Thunderbirds three sets to one on Friday night at the UBCO Gymnasium, in front of a crowd of 1,100 people.
 
It is the first time that UBC Okanagan has defeated UBC in Canada West competition. UBC Okanagan took the first two sets 25-19, and 25-18. The Thunderbirds took the third set, 25-23. The Heat then came back to win the fourth, 25-21, to take the first of two matches this weekend.
 
The win moves the Heat to 16-1 on the season, while the T-Birds are now 12-5, still comfortably in fourth place in Canada West.
 
UBC Okanagan's attack was led by Brianna Beamish (11 kills; .088 hitting percentage), Megan Festival (nine kills; .094), and Erin Drew (nine kills; .467);
 
Danielle Brisebois (Bolton, Ont.) (.270), Juliana Kaufmanis (Richmond, B.C.) (.162), and Alissa Coulter (Calgary) (.103) were the leading attackers for UBC, scoring 14, 12, and 10 kills respectively.
 
Emily Oxland finished with 26 assists for the Heat, and Alessandra Gentile (Port Moody, B.C.) tallied 38 of the Thunderbirds' 45 total assists. In the digs category, Megan Festival led UBC Okanagan with 12, and Coulter led UBC with 10.
 
The teams were evenly matched in the first frame, with both sides attacking and blocking well. The squads split the first 30 points evenly, and UBC trailed just 21-19 when Brisebois knocked down a kill, but the hosts won the next four points to clinch the set. The Heat scored a total of 13 kills in the first set, to the Thunderbirds' nine.
 
The Heat increased their margin of victory by one in the second set, taking it 25-18. The second frame saw the Heat score a total of 12 kills to the Thunderbirds' 10.
 
UBC played their best volleyball of the match in the third set, taking the closest of the four frames by a score of 25-23. UBC scored first, and didn't allow UBC Okanagan to take the lead at any point in the set.
 
The Heat tied the score 20-20 but the T-Birds claimed the next two points. At 22-22, a Katie Wuttunee service error, gave the visitors the lead before the hosts tied the proceedings on a kill. However, UBC was resilient, with Brisebois knocking down a kill before Gentile and Ciara Hanly (Calgary) combined for a block to end the set. The Thunderbirds held the Heat to their lowest hitting percentage of the match, .114, and scored 13 kills to the Heat's 11.
 
UBC Okanagan took back the momentum in the fourth set, and put UBC away by a score of 25-21 for the frame. The final point was scored on a kill from Heat middle Katie Wuttunee, to end the match.
 
Statistically, the teams were evenly matched throughout. Both teams finished with 45 kills; the Heat finished with an attack percentage of .176 on 125 attacks, and the Thunderbirds finished with .160 on 131 attacks.
 
UBC finished with more assists (43-42), while UBC Okanagan finished with more service aces (6-2), digs (54-48), and block assists (20-18) in the four-set match.
 
The two teams will face off again tomorrow night (Saturday, Jan. 30), at 5 p.m. in Kelowna.