VANCOUVER – After a 17-3 regular season that earned them the No. 2 seed in Canada West (as well as the No. 2 spot in the U SPORTS rankings), the Thunderbirds now turn their attention to the postseason, beginning with a best-of-three Canada West Quarterfinal series at home against the UFV Cascades (10-10).
The T-Birds had a bye week to rest up and prepare for this weekend's matches, following their regular season finale wins over UBC Okanagan. The same was not the case for the Cascades, who battled the MacEwan Griffins in the play-in round in a home series of their own.
After winning the first match last Friday, the Cascades dropped the second to a feisty Griffins side, before bouncing back to win the third on Sunday. That gives the T-Birds the rest advantage – with there being just 96 hours in between UFV's last match and the first quarterfinal battle on Thursday, February 26.
"We're obviously anxious to get going," said UBC head coach
Doug Reimer. "I think we earned that bye and in playoffs anything can happen, so our focus needs to be on taking advantage of the preparation time that we've had and making sure we're ready to compete. And I think the team has done a good job with that."
The two teams will face off at 5:30 p.m. (PT) inside War Memorial Gym on both Thursday and Friday, with a third and final match at the same time on Saturday if necessary. These two teams played just three weeks ago, with the Thunderbirds winning both meetings on the road in Abbotsford.
The T-Birds put up great all-around numbers in the regular season, leading the conference in kills per set (12.83) while also ranking fourth in digs per set (13.65), third in blocks per set (2.36) and second in aces per set (2.38) – just barely finishing behind UFV in that last category (2.39).
The trio of
Lucy Borowski,
Kylee Glanville and
Issy Robertshaw have played in every set so far this season, leading the T-Birds offensively.
Leonora Barbulovich-Nad and
Jocelyn Lenarcic have put up big defensive numbers in the middle in the second semester, with the duo combining for an incredible 35 blocks over the final four matches of the regular season.
The Cascades have had plenty of highs and lows so far this season, earning wins over Alberta, Thompson Rivers and Manitoba (three of the top five teams in the conference standings), but also only sweeping one weekend series since mid-November.
UFV's attacks are distributed pretty evenly between their outside hitting trio of Lauren Attieh, Talia Attieh and Mandi Feist, with the two Attieh's standing as the more efficient hitters while Feist sits third in the conference in aces per set (0.47).
"Given their high level of play – and with the experienced players that they have – the fact that we won two matches against them is good but it's also now history," remarked Reimer. "I'm sure they are not intimidated by our team and we are without question respectful of what they can bring…we need to continue to build as we have been over the last month.
"We've done a good job of staying connected and bringing more consistently good play, limiting those unforced errors. I give our team a lot of credit for building not just individual resilience but also team belief."
UBC is 4-2 in the regular season against UFV over the last three campaigns. This is the first time the two schools have ever met in the playoffs, with the Cascades aiming to advance to the Canada West Final Four for the second time in the last three years, and the Thunderbirds wanting to make it three in a row.
CLICK HERE for tickets to see the T-Birds in playoff action. All matches will also be streamed live and on-demand on
Canada West TV.
