VANCOUVER – A season full of excitement and expectation officially gets underway this weekend at War Memorial Gym as the UBC Thunderbirds Women's Volleyball team hosts the Fraser Valley Cascades to open up the 2022-23 Canada West campaign at War Memorial Gym.
Set to host the U SPORTS National Championship for the first time in 40 years this coming March, the T-Birds are guaranteed a berth at the big dance. But there's no question the team wants to earn their way there properly and the long road to achieving glory begins now.
Featuring a veteran heavy roster with the likes of fourth-year setter
Kayla Oxland, fifth-year middle blockers
Danielle Price and
Jayde Robertsen, and fourth-year libero
Kacey Jost, the 'Birds are as deep a team as Reimer has had in many years,
bolstered by an impressive crop of new recruits, all of whom are gunning for the program's 13
th national title, and first since 2019.
After failing to advance to the National Championship in each of the last three seasons, the team did end the 2022 Canada West playoffs oh-so-close to qualifying, falling to the Mount Royal Cougars in the conference bronze medal match.
That experience and heartache is unquestionably a driving force for the T-Birds as they enter this historic season.
"It's motivated us in a number of ways," said UBC Head Coach
Doug Reimer now in his 26
th season manning the T-Birds bench. "We're returning lots of strong players who went thorough that experience…so hopefully remembering that serves as a bit of motivation. But more than anything we're starting at a much better place than one year ago."
The 'Birds have had a busy and successful pre-season, with a 7-2 exhibition record against some of the top teams from across the country. Just last weekend the blue and gold won each of their three matches against Queen's, Alberta, and Mount Royal at the Volleyball Showcase held at the Langley Events Centre. It's allowed the T-Birds coaching staff to not only prepare for the rigorous regular season, but also an opportunity to test some lineup combinations and get some important reps throughout the roster.
"We had three weekends of good competition which got lots of different people in which has given us some real good awareness of areas we're doing well in and areas we need to continue to work on as we progress," added Reimer. "Looking back on last year where it took us too long to get enough volume of matches, we're looking forward to some regular competition."
Last season – Fraser Valley's inaugural Canada West campaign – the T-Birds took three of four regular season matches over the Cascades including a weekend sweep in Abbottsford in February. This year, the two lower mainland rivals have already met once, a straight sets UBC victory September 30 at War Memorial Gym.
"Without question Fraser Valley is a stronger team than they were a year ago and we'll have to play a really solid game. Our goal is to approach it the way we've played through most of the exhibition season and see if we can bring that same level of play both nights. I think it's going to be some really good volleyball."
First serve of the new season is set for Friday, October 21 at 6:00 p.m. PT at War Memorial Gym with Saturday's rematch beginning at 5:00 p.m.
Tickets are available now and both games will be
streamed live on Canada West TV.
