Heat fall 3-1 to Cougars in home opener

A closely contested Canada West men's volleyball match between Regina and UBC Okanagan saw the Cougars spoil UBCO's home opener Friday night. 

SET SCORES               1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
Regina.............. (3) 28 18 25 25 (1‐0)
UBC Okanagan........ (1) 26 25 23 20 (0‐1)

KELOWNA, BC - The UBC Okanagan men’s volleyball team fall short to the Regina Cougars in the first match of the weekend series.  The teams split the first two sets before the Heat gave way in the third and fourth, winning just one of the four sets played at the UBC Okanagan Gymnasium gave the U of R a 3-1 (28-26, 18-25, 25-23, 25-20) win on Friday, Oct. 15.

All four sets were tightly contested on the opening night of Canada West men's volleyball. This being the first game for both teams the win has Regina starting the year off at 1-0, the loss puts UBCO at 0-1. The career series is still 6-3 in UBC Okanagan's favour however.

The winners were led on offense by Joshua Nickel  had 14 kills and five digs, and was the only player on U of R to amass double digits in kills. Andre Borgeaud had eight kills and 11 digs, and Bronson Busch finished with five blocks.

The Heat’s  Lars Bornemann had 16 kills for and 10 digs on the night. Fourth year middle Joshua Harvey followed his teammate with 11 kills and two digs.  Two other fourth years, Jim Bell and Alex Swiatlowski followed combined for 11 kills (6 and 5 respectively) and 17 digs (7 and 10).

Two players playing in their first CIS match showed a promise of good things to come for UBC Okanagan. Rookie Eli Risso (Kelowna, BC), got the start at libero on Friday and had an extraordinary first  regular season game with eight digs and the former high school setter was generally able to get the ball to his teammates in good spots.

Eli's high school teammate Devon Cote (Kelowna, BC), also showed flashes in his first CIS match the 6-foot two outside hitter notched his first career kill in the fourth set, Cote was a flurry when he was on the court within the next eight points he recorded his first block and had a second kill. A third first year, Jory Dickie (Kelowna, BC), also got into the match, he recorded a dig and hit his spot from the service line on the night.

Regina's first year middle Cody Caldwell put up some impressive stats off the bench as he finished with four kills at an efficient .273 kill percentage.

The Heat started off their season with an offensive edge that kept them neck and neck with the Cougars for the entire set. at multiple times both teams were tied leaving little room for error on both sides. The Heat, unable to effectively serve the ball to the Cougars ended the set with a 28-26 loss.

The second set started off strong for the Heat at as fourth years Joshua Harvey, Alex Swiatlowski, and Jim Bell provided UBC Okanagan with an impactful defensive edge that helped fight off the persistent Cougars. This strong defense and effective offense helped push the Heat against the Cougars and ended the match with a five point scoring streak for the Heat giving them a 25-18 win.

The third set was filled with equal play on both ends as the score was always at a one or two point differential. These tenacious attempts at a win on both ends provided exciting rallies.  However, The Cougars ability to play as a team helped them rise to the final two points by Matthew Lueck and Joshua Nickel  to finish the set 25-23.

The fourth set like the third was very back and forth as both teams battled for the win. The Cougars put together a strong seven points run, to go up 15-11. Andre Borgeaud finished off the set with an ace giving Regina a 25-20 set win over UBC OKanagan.

Both teams had very similar stats tonight as both teams finished with 47 kills and 45 assists. The Heat were able to capture 50 digs to the Cougars 49. The Cougars led in aces with six compared to the Heats four, both teams struggled from the service line with 19 service errors for UBCO and 14 for Regina.

Expect another closely contested match tomorrow in the rematch as Regina will look for the sweep, all four previous doubleheaders between these two teams have ended in a sweep. UBC Okanagan will try and reverse that trend and play for the split. First serve at UBC Okanagan is 7 p.m. (PST).

~ Tia Sadler // Heat communications