Entering the Canada West playoffs as the fourth seed, the No. 5 nationally-ranked UBC Thunderbirds (15-5) will look to spark some more postseason magic beginning this weekend. The two-time defending U SPORTS champs will face a tough path to make it back to that national stage, as they also try and do one better than last year's Canada West silver medal in the conference playoffs.
The team currently standing in their way is the No. 10 Thompson Rivers WolfPack (13-7), who come to War Memorial Gym in the Canada West Quarterfinals for the second year in a row. The best-of-three series begins on Friday, February 28th.
These two teams faced off just four weeks ago, with UBC prevailing at home in both meetings. Despite that recent success, Thunderbirds head coach
Doug Reimer knows his team will be in a battle this weekend.
"For playoffs, you can throw out some of the regular season stuff for sure," he said. "They've got a lot of experience on their team, and I don't think it will be an easy weekend for either team."
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The WolfPack are led by outside hitter Rida Erlalelitepe who is fifth in Canada West in kills per set (3.49). Libero Olivia Andulajevic is third in digs per set (3.34) for a team that ranks fifth in the conference in that category. After a four-match losing skid against UBC and Alberta last month, the WolfPack bounced back to close the regular season with three wins out of four against Mount Royal and Brandon.
The T-Birds, meanwhile, put up the highest total points per set (17.3) mark over the course of the regular season, despite ranking just seventh in kills (12.0 per set). They did so by leading the conference in aces per set (3.11) and being second in blocks per set (2.14). Three T-Birds (
Akash Grewal,
Issy Robertshaw and
Trinity Solecki) are in the top five individual rankings for the former, while two (
Emelie Silovs and
Jocelyn Lenarcic) are top five in the latter.
Lucy Borowski leads the way in terms of kills, sitting third in the conference at 3.82 per set on a .278 hitting percentage. She also ranks sixth in Canada West in aces per set and is top three on the team in both digs and blocks per set, in a very well-rounded season.
The T-Birds were able to enjoy a bye this past weekend through the first round of the Canada West playoffs, a nice boost for a team that's been banged up throughout the season. Grewal and Solecki are the only players to have started every match, while veteran middle blocker
Emma Doyon is just now rounding into form after missing all but one of the first sixteen matches due to injury.
Despite absences from a number of players at different points, the Thunderbirds earned home court advantage for the first round of the postseason with a top-four seed in the conference. They're also recently battled-tested having come off of four straight weekends playing against TRU, Manitoba, Alberta and UFV – all nationally-ranked opponents.
"We're definitely happy to be on home court," said Reimer. "When you look at not having to travel, not having to get used to serving and passing in a separate gym, home crowd advantage…so come on out fans, we need ya!"
If the T-Birds take down the WolfPack in their best-of-three series, they will advance to the single-elimination Final Four next weekend. Those matches will take place at the home gym of whichever team is the highest remaining seed.
The first serve of the quarterfinals will happen at 5:30 p.m. (PT) on Friday at War Memorial Gym. The two teams will then face off once again at 6:00 p.m. (PT) on Saturday. If they split those two meetings they will play in a final, winner-take-all third matchup at 5:00 p.m. (PT) on Sunday.
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