The Heat defend home court against prowling Cougars with back to back three set victories.
Women's Volleyball (Canada West conference match)
Saturday, October 17th, 2015
UBC Okanagan Gymnasium, Kelowna, BC
SET SCORES 1 2 3 TEAM RECORDS Regina (0) 21 19 21 (2-0) UBC Okanagan (3) 25 25 25 (0-2)
KELOWNA, BC - Thirteen service aces powered the the UBC Okanagan women’s volleyball squad to a second straight three set victory over the visiting University of Regina at the UBC Okanagan gymnasium Saturday evening.
The scores at the UBC OKanagan gymnasium went 25-21, 25-19, 25-21
The rematch was much closer then Friday's Heat win with all three sets closely contested yet it was the depth of UBC Okanagan and their strong service game that was the difference in Kelowna on Saturday night.
Regina played much better, but still struggled against the Heat block, as a team the Cougars hit just .098, compared to -.108 on Friday. Ashlee Sandiford was impressive on Saturday night, she led both team in scoring with 15.5 points, she put down 11 kills and led her team with three service aces. The Cougars finished with seven in the match.
Two members of the Heat equaled Sandiford's three aces, Emily Oxland and Katy Klomps each had three. Showing the depth of UBC Okanagan second year defensive specialist Sophia Furlan came off the bench in the first set and recorded a pair of aces.
Tori Glynn was the most efficient attacker for Regina, she was successful on 31.2 percent of her swings, the fifth year outside hitter finished with seven kills and three blocks.
Leading the way for UBC Okanagan, equaling Sandifords game high with 11 kills (.316) was Kaitlynn Given, the two other starting outside hitters, Megan Festival and Brianna Beamish finished with eight an seven kills respectively.
Neither team achieved a lead of greater than three in the first set as the Heat and the Cougars battled point for point, the Cougars found their momentum quicker than yesterday's game scoring 11 more points in today's first set than yesterday first with only 10 points. The Heat finished the set with a block from Brianna Beamish to close out the first 25-23.
The second set was once again tightly contested, similar to the first, the match was even at: 2-2, 9-9, and 16-16, with Regina getting to the technical timeout first. The Heat took advantage of Cougar mistakes late in the set, and pulled away with six point streak with Katy Klomps at the service line picking up her three aces in that short span. This push proved to be too much for the Cougars to overcome and third year middle Erin Drew of the Heat finished the set off with a block giving them a 25-19 finish.
UBC Okanagan surged in the third set, hit the technical timeout with a 16-12 advantage, pushed the lead to five (19-14) and then finished the match when Emily Oxland scored three of the final four points via the service ace.
The Heat finish the weekend with a (2-0) record and will travel to Saskatoon to play the Huskies on this upcoming weekend (Friday Oct. 23-Saturday Oct. 24). The Cougars continue on the road and will lokk for their first conference win in Calgary with a pair of matches against the other Cougars in Canada West, Mount Royal.
Games to be broadcast on Canada West.tv
~ Tia Sadler // Heat communications