VANCOUVER – The No. 2 UBC Thunderbirds (17-3) head into the Canada West playoffs on an eight game win streak with a straight sets victory Saturday night over the UBC Okanagan Heat (25-15, 25-17, 25-19) at War Memorial Gym.
The T-Birds' third consecutive straight sets win earned the season series sweep over the Heat (5-15) who officially played their final match of the campaign while UBC will now await their first playoff opponent for the quarter-finals which begin February 26.
"Our attacking, maybe especially in set two, we weren't hitting for a high percentage but that's going to happen and so much of volleyball is, can you get the team out of system," said UBC head coach, Doug Reimer. "They were managing to do that a little better and block well. Where I'm really pleased with the growth of the group is in those situations, we're still finding ways to score points, to defend better and extend rallies, so that's a good sign."
Aimee Skinner continued her ramp up in court time after returning from injury, amassing eight kills and a .375 attack percentage on the night.
UBCO was led by third-year middle blocker Marija Josipovic's six kills while fourth-year setter Kylan Finseth racked up a match-high 12 digs.
A close start to the opening set, the T-Birds broke out to an 11-5 advantage on the strength of a service run by Elizabeth Lee and a 6-0 run.
The Heat closed the gap to 13-11 but aided by UBCO attacking errors, the T-Birds strung together eight straight points to take a stranglehold lead at 21-11.
On her senior weekend, Lucy Borowski claimed set point with a powerful back row attack, one of her team-high nine kills on the night.
The T-Birds struggled offensively in the first half of the second set as UBCO held a tenuous 13-12 lead. The 'Birds took 17 of the next 21 points to comfortably win the frame, however, despite a .114 team attacking percentage.
Tianna Kehler served up an ace to close out the set, the third-year middle playing some healthy minutes as did several other T-Birds in what was the team's final competition for nearly two full weeks.
"We started Tianna and Abby (Wasutyk) in the middle and gave them court time," said Reimer who strategically spread playing time over the course of the weekend series. "The other pins I thought that went in, especially Aimee who's coming back, also got some quality time, and I think Ella (Ungemach) brought a lot of good play for us."
The final set saw a resilient Heat squad not wanting their final match of the season to end too early.
UBCO never led the frame but managed to keep pace and forced the T-Birds to play their best offensive set of the weekend in order to secure the 25-19 win, hitting a collective .308.
Issy Robertshaw began the final set with three straight service aces out of four total on the night for the fourth-year setter, a season-high performance.
While the evening may not have seen the T-Birds at their overall best, they shone brightest on the most critical points, coming away with all but one or two extended rallies in their favour.
"Every play's a point, but there's points that your team can feed off and then there's ones that are energy drains as well. A long rally where people are covering the hitters, not only is it more exciting but I think it energizes the group and gives the realization we don't have to play flawless volleyball. We have to end up putting the ball on their side of the court or waiting for them to make an error and that's where our defensive pursuit and awareness and focus there has really improved."
The Heat will now have to wait until the start of the 2026-27 season for their next meaningful action while the T-Birds' wait is substantially less with UBC set to host a best-of-three Canada West quarter-final at War Memorial Gym starting Thursday, February 26.
The MacEwan Griffins will visit the seventh-seeded Fraser Valley Cascades for a best-of-three play-in series next weekend, the winner then heading to Point Grey to battle the T-Birds. Full schedule and ticketing details will be available in the coming days on gothunderbirds.ca.
