After a dramatic, action-packed loss in the Canada West Final on the road to Alberta, it's now just about time for the U SPORTS National Championship where the UBC Thunderbirds have the chance to earn a three-peat if they're able to pull off three victories in three days.
The T-Birds enter the tournament as the two-seed, the same position they held at last year's tournament, when they made it through the gauntlet to win their second straight national title and 10th under head coach
Doug Reimer.
"Going in, it's like 'hey, we've won, and let's build off of our knowledge of that,'" said Reimer. "How does that carry over into any match, you never know…at the end of the day we just have to execute, and the team that executes the best is going to win."
Four of the starters from last year's championship match –
Lucy Borowski,
Emma Doyon,
Akash Grewal and
Issy Robertshaw – are back for another crack at gold. Borowski, Grewal, Robertshaw and
Trinity Solecki all also played off the bench in the 2023 championship match, while
Olivia Furlan was a starter on UBC's 2019 U SPORTS title-winning squad, albeit at setter as opposed to her current position as libero.
That wealth of high-level experience is a boost when facing off against the best teams that Canada has to offer, and the Thunderbirds have shown themselves to be a well-rounded unit this season. The blue and gold ranked first in the country in the regular season in terms of points per set (17.3), and one of three teams to have ranked top six in U SPORTS in both hitting percentage (.237) and blocks per set (2.14).
One of their biggest strengths is at the service line, where the T-Birds averaged 3.11 aces per set, the highest single-season mark recorded by any program in over a decade, while also allowing the fewest aces in the country (1.16 per set). Over the course of their four Canada West playoff matches the T-Birds recorded 39 aces while giving up just 12.
One of those Canada West bouts was against the Saskatchewan Huskies, who the Thunderbirds will face once again in the U SPORTS quarterfinals Friday night. It's the Huskies' first appearance at nationals in 20 years, after they beat Trinity Western in the Canada West play-in round before upsetting the top-seeded Cascades in the quarterfinals.
Saskatchewan finished in fourth at the Final Four last weekend with losses to UBC and Manitoba, and will be eager for revenge against the team that took them out of contention for conference gold.
"The rematch is never going to be exactly the same as what just happened," added Reimer. "I know our team definitely has a lot of respect for Saskatchewan, we've seen them play six great playoff matches. This is a first round match that we're going to have to earn."
Huskies' outside hitter Taryn Hannah had a pair of great performances last weekend, recording an efficient 12 kills and seven digs against the T-Birds before notching 16 kills and 12 digs against the Bisons in the bronze medal match. Jessica Bergstrom has had multiple blocks in each playoff match so far and is averaging just over two kills per set on a .381 hitting percentage.
If the Thunderbirds defeat the Huskies, they'll move on to face either Manitoba or Saint Mary's in the U SPORTS semifinals. If they lose, they'll face one of those two sides in the consolation round.
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UBC and Manitoba have faced off in each of the last two postseasons, with the T-Birds coming out on top in the 2023 national semifinals but the Bisons winning in both the 2023 Canada West quarterfinals and 2024 conference championship match. UBC has only faced Saint Mary's once before, defeating them in the U SPORTS quarterfinals in 2010.
The Thunderbirds' rematch against Saskatchewan is scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m. (PT) on Friday.
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