Matchup
The top two teams from the regular season are the only ones left standing as the No. 3 UBC Thunderbirds visit the No. 1 Calgary Dinos in a single-match Canada West championship final on Friday, March 9 in Calgary.
Both teams have already advanced to the U SPORTS national championship taking place at Laval University in Quebec City next week, but both are fighting for the higher seed and the coveted conference banner. The defending national champion T-Birds are looking for a record 14
th Canada West title and first since 2014 while the Dinos haven't won since 2005.
It's an appropriate meeting between the two best teams in the conference. The 'Birds finished the regular season with a 20-4 record, just two points back of the Dinos. Calgary remains undefeated on home court this season but two of their three regular season losses came courtesy of the Thunderbirds at War Memorial Gym back in November.
First serve for the Canada West final is set for 5:00 p.m. PT Friday at Calgary's Jack Simpson Gym.
Last Action
The T-Birds easily dispatched the visiting UBC Okanagan Heat with a sweep in last weekend's Canada West semifinal. The 'Birds took the first match in four sets on Friday and finished off the Heat with a straight sets victory Saturday to advance to a second straight conference championship match.
Calgary swept the visiting Alberta Pandas in the other Canada West semifinal to advance to their first conference championship match in 10 years.
By the Numbers
2.44 – The Thunderbirds have stepped up their service game in the post-season averaging 2.44 aces per set with
Olivia Furlan leading the way with 13 aces through four playoff matches thus far.
.292 – UBC's offence is executing at an impressive rate with a .292 hitting percentage in the playoffs compared to a .220 mark through the regular season.
Players to Watch
Kiera Van Ryk (#3, Left Side) – Earning UBC's first-ever Canada West Rookie of the Year award, the Surrey native is coming off another impressive weekend where she led the 'Birds with 26 combined kills and 31 points. Van Ryk is fourth in Canada West playoff kills per set with 3.57.
Gabrielle Attieh (#4, Middle) – The second-year Arts student earned UBC's player of the match last Friday with 11 kills and a .409 hitting percentage. Attieh's .338 post-season hitting percentage is good for third in the Canada West.
Coach's take
The new format of a single-match championship final is a benefit in a number of ways according to UBC head coach
Doug Reimer, not the least of which is the avoidance of a lengthy, tiring series.
"Calgary is obviously going to be a very worthy opponent and it's going to be a good challenge going into their gym for a one-match situation which in a lot of ways replicates what you have to do at nationals," said Reimer who last faced the Dinos at home in early November. "Matches that happened before Christmas do seem like a long time ago and both teams will have some things that are the same but some things that are different, so we're not spending a lot of time watching those matches in preparation for Friday night."
The Thunderbirds have benefitted from a strong, balanced attack since the turn of the New Year, a development Reimer is very pleased with.
"If you look over the last month or so we've been getting much better production out of a number of people on different nights so I think we're harder to play against than we were a month ago," said the veteran coach. "Both Gabby Attieh and
Ciara Hanly in the middle have had some very good offensive performances along with some better overall team play."
