VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds hit the road to begin their postseason against the Mount Royal Cougars in the Canada West best-of-three quarter finals. Despite winning five of their last six regular season matches, the seventh-place 'Birds will be in tough against the second-seeded Cougars who finished the regular season on an eight-match win streak and are ranked No. 4 in U SPORTS.
The quarter final series begins on Friday, February 21, at 5:00 p.m. PT, with game two slated for Saturday, February 22, at 5:00 p.m. PT and a deciding third match (if necessary) on Sunday, February 23, at 2:00 p.m. PT. All the action takes place at Kenyon Court in Calgary, Alberta where the Cougars lost just two matches this season.
Mount Royal's Nyadholi Thokbuom leads the conference with a .386 hitting percentage, while teammate Chantel Park tops the Canada West with an average 0.75 service aces per set.
UBC has demonstrated their strength from the service line as well through the regular season and as a team are second in the conference with 2.69 aces per set - led by Olivia Furlan's impressive 24 aces in just 33 sets (0.73 average).
Although the Cougars swept the T-Birds in their regular season series, UBC has since welcomed back key additions to their lineup and have continued to improve as a team heading into this weekend's head-to-head battle.
Last Action
The 'Birds closed out their regular season with a sweep over the eleventh-place Brandon Bobcats - winning 3-1 in both matches at War Memorial Gym. Gabrielle Attieh recorded 24 kills and nine blocks over the weekend series, while graduating senior Anna Price contributed 25 kills in her final eight sets on home court.
Mount Royal swept the eighth-place Winnipeg Wesmen, 3-0 and 3-2, at home last weekend to conclude their regular season.
Coach's Take
UBC head coach Doug Reimer's squad finished the season in much better form than when they last faced the Cougars, and the veteran coach is looking forward to the challenge ahead.
"I thought we played with a fair bit of poise and lots of different players got to contribute, and we had the chance to work on some things," said Reimer. "But the reality is that playoffs will bring a different level of intensity and we have to be prepared for that.
"MRU has shown all year that they have a very solid team," continued Reimer. "But we can bring a lot more looks and different line up than we did in the first half of the season. I'd like to think we can put more pressure on them this time around. It'll take our best weekend of the year to move on, but I know we have a lot of experience and talent and hope that we can bring focus and a consistently high compete level."
