Kelowna, B.C. - In what was undoubtedly their best performance of the season, the Heat women took down their rival in the UBC Thunderbirds in three sets on Saturday night in the UBC Okanagan Gymnasium.
The win could prove to be crucial in terms of the playoff race as the Heat know that if they will have a chance for a playoff berth next weekend when they take on the Calgary Dinos.
The win improves the Heat's record to (7-15), the Thunderbirds now sit at (11-11) with the loss.
Amaya Perry would lead the way individually in the match for UBCO, racking up 13 kills on an efficient .545 hitting percentage. Natalie Livingston added eight kills and 11 digs for the Heat in the winning effort.
The T-Birds were led by Gabrielle Attieh with nine kills and five digs, followed by Tessa Davis with eight kills and three digs.
The visiting squad's 17 total errors, compared to the Heat's eight, would prove to be a deciding factor in UBCO's three set victory.
UBCO had one of their best sets of the season attacking wise in the first, racking up 14 kills to just one error. Things would be tied up at 19 in the first before the home squad used a couple kills from Perry and Kenzie Wallace to capture the first (25-22).
The second set looked like it would go the way of a T-Bird's victory, however a pair of service aces from Livingston would kickstart a Heat comeback from a (21-13) deficit. The Heat would power through to a (26-24) second set win.
The Heat took the third set with a convincing (25-15) win to conclude their last home game of the season in straight sets.
Claudia Corneil, one of the Heat's graduating student-athletes, played her last game in the UBC Okanagan Gymnasium tonight and was happy with the team's performance.
"[Winning] was just icing on the cake, the fact that we could come out and perform the way we did made seniors night that much better for me."
The Heat will travel to Calgary next weekend to take on the Dinos in their last games of the regular season with Friday's match set to start at 5 p.m. PST and Saturday's game beginning at 1 p.m. PST.
UBC will return home to face off with the Brandon Bobcats on Friday at 3 p.m. PST and Saturday at 6 p.m. PST.
All action can be seen live and on-demand on Canadawest.tv presented by Co-op.
