The UBC Thunderbirds (0-2) will get a change of scenery this weekend as they head to Kamloops for a series with the Thompson Rivers University Wolfpack (0-2) on Friday and Saturday, October 26th and 27th at the Tournament Capital Centre.
 
Both teams are gunning for their first Canada West victory in week two of conference play. During the exhibition West Coast Classic earlier this month, the T-Birds came away with a straight sets win over TRU in Langley while also defeating the Wolfpack 3-1, 3-0 a season ago.
 
First serve Friday is set for 6:00 p.m. PT with Saturday's rematch beginning at 5:00 p.m. PT.


 
 

Last Action

UBC kicked off their 2018-2019 schedule on home court a week ago with plenty of fresh faces and young talent at the forefront of their roster. The new-look 'Birds fell 3-0 on opening night to the University of Alberta and came up short on night two, losing 3-1 to the Pandas despite an improved performance in front the War Memorial Gym faithful. Second-year standout Kiera Van Ryk totalled 26 kills on the weekend, while third-year setter/outside hitter Olivia Furlan added 15 kills and three blocks with 24 digs over seven sets.
 
TRU dropped a pair of 3-0 decisions to the University of Calgary Dinos in Alberta to start their season last weekend. Olga Savenchuk led the Wolfpack attack with 19 kills and added 24 digs with six blocks in her TRU debut.
 

By the Numbers

14.57 – The T-Birds are averaging over 14 kills per set - tops in the Canada West - with primary attacker Kiera Van Ryk tallying the fourth most kills in the conference.


 
14 – UBC leads the Canada West with 14 assists per set, as Olivia Furlan averages a league-high 9.29 assists per set.
 
 

Players to Watch

Tessa Davis – (#12, Middle/Outside Hitter) – In her first season with the Thunderbirds, the fourth-year law student from the University of Toronto leads the Canada West with a .464 hitting percentage thus far. Davis has 15 kills and five blocks in just six sets played to date.
 
Jayde Robertsen – (#1, Middle) – Robertson is also in her first year with the 'Birds after transferring from Eastern Washington University, and is second to Davis with a .357 hitting percentage in seven sets with UBC. The outside hitter contributed 13 kills, three blocks and 14.5 points
 
 

Coach's take

"Despite the losses, I think the weekend showed there is a lot of potential in our young group of players," said UBC head coach Doug Reimer who knows his team is capable of developing their systems and execution throughout the season. "It will take some time to build the cohesion and belief needed to achieve better results against strong teams. Saturday we played better in so many aspects of the game but our serve and pass game has to be better and we needed to find a few more ways to score."
 


Coach Reimer is prepared for a tough test in TRU during the team's first road trip of the season.
 
"They have a strong new right side attacker from Ukraine, Olga Savenchuk, who has been their leading offensive player," added Reimer. "I expect them to come out and play us hard and compete well. It is still early in the season and I think both teams will be looking to be steadier and more consistent than we showed in our opening weekend of play. Both teams are coming off losses against tough teams in week one and it will be interesting to see how week two goes."