The No. 2 UBC Thunderbirds (15-3) have put themselves in tremendous position heading into the coming Canada West playoffs, having already locked up a home berth for the quarter-finals later this month as they host the UBC Okanagan Heat (5-13) this Friday and Saturday, February 13 and 14 at War Memorial Gym.
It's one last tune-up before the post-season and a chance to celebrate on multiple fronts for the T-Birds while the Heat desperately need a pair of wins to keep their post-season hopes alive.
While the results of both nights are unlikely to impact the T-Birds' virtual lock of second place in the conference standings, the team certainly wants to maintain their methodical approach that's resulted in an active six-match win streak while having dropped just two sets since January 10.
"Number one is, we need to keep preparing the same because we need to practice implementing game plans and continuing the process," said UBC head coach, Doug Reimer, of the approach to the season finale which will be followed by a bye week. "But it does allow us as a coaching staff to look at this two week block in terms of aspects of our game that we want to work on and improve. It allows us to work on some things, experiment on some things that hopefully will help our group down the road."
Save for the team's annual Pride Night festival, this weekend may be the most important on the season calendar for the team as they'll honour outside hitters Akash Grewal and Lucy Borowski, their two graduating seniors, while also partnering with the Hon Hsing Athletic Club, celebrating Lunar New Year replete with Lion and Dragon Dance performances Friday night.
While this year's graduating class may be small in number, it's hard to match in terms of the impact they've have had over the past five years. Both Grewal and Borowski are multiple Canada West All-Stars while both were also named to the 2023-24 U SPORTS National Championship Tournament All-Star squad, Borowski also earning tournament MVP.
"Their journeys are actually much different in some ways but also very similar," Reimer said of the graduating T-Birds. "Similar in the sense they're both from Vancouver, went to high school here, played Thunder Volleyball club through their whole career, have represented Canada internationally and have trained super hard. They're very different players but both will without question will go down in the long term as two of the most impactful players this program has ever had on the court – that's on a list that includes some pretty special people."
While the T-Birds are sitting comfortably near the top of the conference standings, the Heat enter the final weekend of the regular season desperate to keep their slim playoff hopes alive.
UBCO is currently one point back of Winnipeg for the tenth and final Canada West playoff berth meaning the Heat would not only likely need a weekend sweep to get into the post-season but also help on the out of town scoreboard.
Facing a desperate team is far from the worst thing for a T-Birds squad gearing up for what they certainly hope will be a long playoff run having been through a gauntlet of a season full of adversity.
"It's a really tough league where there's been a lot of weekends that are split and good teams fighting for playoff spots. I do think our team should feel very good about that level of resilience to a degree. It's also shown lots of people have had to step up and make contributions over the year. I think it's important to appreciate that and now move onto the next phase, but remaining focussed on the present."
First serve Friday night to begin senior weekend and UBC's Lunar New Year celebration is set for 5:30 p.m. at War Memorial Gym with Saturday's regular season finale scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Tickets for both are available now and both will be streamed live on Canada West TV.
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