The UBC women’s volleyball team had quite the playoff weekend. They fell in the semifinals to sister school UBC Okanagan Heat 3-1, but then blew past the University of Alberta Pandas in three straight sets to seize the Canada West bronze medal and clinch a berth to the CIS national championships in Manitoba.
The Brandon University Bobcats, the mid-table team that beat the ’Birds twice in January, were beaten in two games out of the three in the playoff quarterfinal. However, they will still be at the championships as they are hosting the tournament. The ’Birds then went on to play two of the Canada West top ranked teams, the UBC Okanagan Heat and the University of Alberta Golden Bears.
Despite not winning the Canada West playoffs, the ’Birds are still in the race for national dominance and the team looks extremely strong. Thunderbird left side hitter and resident sharp-shooter Danielle Brisebois was an attacking leader throughout the entire regular season, fifth in total kills at 289 and third in kills per set at 3.85. Third-year setter Alessandra Gentile was third in the Canada West for assists per set (9.53) and Ciara Hanly was fourth for both block total (87) and blocks per set (1.12).
Last year, when the ’Birds finished sixth after losing to the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees, many wondered if the T-Birds would ever be able to contend for the national championships again. It seems this year, the answer is a resounding yes. The T-Birds will be going into the CIS quarterfinals.
On the other side of the court will be the University of Montreal Carabins — the winners of the RSEQ league who won their seventh provincial championships in the last nine years and the team that dashed their hopes last year in the first Thunderbird CIS quarterfinal loss in 10 years.
This is a team that head coach of the Thunderbirds Doug Reimer described as “solid and experienced” last year. They finished the regular season with a 17-5 record and a first place. Carabin attacker Vicky Savard is a familiar name, a member of last year’s Montréal team that beat UBC in three straight sets and she will be at Brandon tomorrow. Marie-Alex Belanger is a making waves with her 3.76 kills per set and has a hitting percentage of a whooping 0.347.
With the entire CIS national championships ahead of them, the T-Birds will soon be facing the best of the best from all over the country. They really need to fight hard to push Montréal off their centre as the Carabins are not a pushover team. But from the regular season to the playoffs, the Thunderbirds have already survived their test of fire.
The only place left to go is up.
Share this article
