This weekend is a big one at War Memorial Gym, as the UBC Thunderbirds (14-4) take on the UFV Cascades (16-2) in a top of the table clash to close the Canada West regular season.

Saturday's match is Senior Night, where the graduating players on this year's T-Birds squad are honoured. The players of this year's class will all leave the program as multi-time national champions, having contributed across the board in a number of different ways.

The captain of this season's team, Trinity Solecki is enjoying her best year as a Thunderbird. The Alberta native ranks third on the team in kills (2.20 per set), second in digs (2.25 per set) and sits just outside the Canada West top five in aces (0.52 per set). She enters this weekend on a serving hot streak, with 10 aces and just three service errors in her last three matches.



Olivia Furlan has had a decorated career at UBC, spread across a number of years and positions. She's played all three of setter, outside hitter and libero in her time as a T-Bird, taking on the last of those three as her primary position in her final season. Despite not playing libero before this year, she ranks fourth in the conference in digs (3.22 per set), demonstrating her incredible versatility.

Middle blocker Emma Doyon has been limited to just three matches so far this season due to injury, but took the court in both outings last weekend as she aims to return to form at the most important time of the year. She was a key piece of last season's national championship-winning team, leading the T-Birds in blocks per set (1.00).



The Thunderbirds are coming off two hard-fought losses on the road at Alberta that dropped the blue and gold from No. 1 to No. 3 in the U SPORTS rankings. The strength of Canada West is such that despite that high of a national ranking, the T-Birds are locked into finishing either third or fourth-place in the final conference standings, depending on both their own matches and out-of-town results.

It's the Pandas who currently sit just ahead of the T-Birds in the standings at 15-3, as they prepare to play the Mount Royal Cougars in their final two regular season matches. In order to pass the Edmonton outfit and take the third seed for the conference playoffs, UBC needs to earn more wins this weekend than the Pandas. If they win the same number of matches or fewer, then they will enter the Canada West postseason as the fourth seed.

The Cascades are certainly no pushovers, as they enter this weekend ranked No. 5 in the country. This is just their fourth season since they moved up to the Canada West level, but the program has quickly established itself as a top contender. They need just one win in the two matches this weekend to clinch the top seed in the conference for the first time.



UBC and UFV are tied for first in the conference in points per set (17.3) although they have different top strengths. The Cascades are first in Canada West in kills per set (13.2) and second in digs per set (14.55), while the T-Birds are second in blocks per set (2.26) and first by a sizable amount in aces per set (3.31).

The Cascades are led offensively by the sister duo of Lauren and Talia Attieh, who both rank top ten in the conference in kills (3.54 and 3.30 per set, respectively). Rounding out the starting outside hitter group is Mandi Feist who clocks in at 14th in kills (2.88 per set), while libero Emily Matsui is second in the conference in digs (3.54 per set).

Lucy Borowski has been a highlight for the Thunderbirds in the new year, as the fourth-year outside hitter has recorded 15+ kills in five of her last seven matches and 10+ digs in four of the last seven. Emelie Silovs has continued her emergence defensively, notching four or more blocks in seven of her last nine matches, after only doing so once in her first seven.

With all-important playoff seeding on the line, the T-Birds first take on the Cascades on Friday, February 14th at 5:30 p.m. (PT). Then, War Memorial Gym is home to Senior Night at 4:00 p.m. (PT) on Saturday, February 15th.