The UBC Thunderbirds (6-10) are ramping up their playoff push with just three weeks left in the regular season, and this week's trip to Langley to face the Trinity Western Spartans (11-3) will be a tough test for the young T-Bird team.

UBC has put together their longest win streak of the season with four straight victories after the winter break and are now within just one win of the final Canada West playoff berth.

Trinity Western, meanwhile, enters the weekend in fourth place in the conference, but just six points out of first and with two matches in hand on every team ahead of them.
First serve Friday night at the Langley Events Centre is set for 8:00 p.m. PT with Saturday's rematch at 7:00 p.m. PT.


 

Last Action

UBC earned their second straight sweep with a dominant 3-0, 3-0 weekend against the UBC Okanagan Heat at War Memorial Gym to remain undefeated in 2019 Canada West action. Matt Neaves had another monster series for the Thunderbirds racking up 25 kills with nine total blocks while Michael Dowhaniuk put up 18 kills and eight digs. Coltyn Liu tallied 17 kills with 13 digs, and Jordan Deshane dropped five aces in five sets last weekend.

Trinity Western started off their 2019 schedule with back-to-back 3-0 losses to the Brandon Bobcats (14-2) after finishing 2018 with a 9-1 record. The Spartans bounced back against the Thompson Rivers University Wolfpack last weekend with a 3-0, 3-0 sweep of their own. Canadian national team member Eric Loeppky totaled 24 kills with just four attacking errors and three aces for the Spartans as the outside hitter continues to top the Canada West with his .386 hitting percentage and 0.63 aces per set.
 

Players to Watch

Tyson Smith (#16, Libero) – The experienced libero leads the 'Birds with 116 digs and averages 1.90 digs per set through a team-high 61 sets of play to date. Smith also is third on the roster with 21 assists.



Michael Dowhaniuk (#13, Outside Hitter) – Dowhaniuk continues to impress in his rookie season at UBC and currently tops the team with 145 kills, while also posting 13 aces and 20 blocks in 53 sets.
 

Coach's take

"For us to achieve our objective of making the playoffs, it's been important for us to start semester two off well to give ourselves a chance," said UBC head coach Mike Hawkins. "I thought throughout this past weekend against UBCO, we got better in each set and were able to show ourselves the high quality volleyball that we're able to play. That confidence is going to be huge for us as we look to put more wins together down the stretch."

Hawkins expects his team to rise to the challenge in facing a strong Trinity Western team at home.

"The Spartans are a top team in our conference and were able to rebound well against TRU this past weekend. For us to have success, we will need to be focused on what we need to do on our side of the net and play to our identity. These will be two good teams playing high level volleyball in what is sure to be a raucous environment."