After winning both matches in Calgary the UBC Okanagan women's volleyball team look to the road again when they travel to Brandon for two matched this weekend.
Women's Volleyball (Canada West conference match)
Saturday, November 14th, 2015
Jack Simpson Gymnasium, Calgary AB
SET SCORES 1 2 3 TEAM RECORDS UBC Okanagan........ (3) 25 25 25 7-1 Calgary............. (0) 23 21 21 4-6
CALGARY – Late third set run by the Heat give UBC Okanagan women's volleyball a clean 3-0 win on Saturday night (25-23, 25-21, 25-21), wrapping up a two-match sweep of the University of Calgary Dinos in the weekend series at Jack Simpson Gymnasium.
"Wasn't our sharpest weekend, but we sure worked hard and that made the difference," remarked head coach Steve Manuel. "We got some bounces and breaks because we just full on worked as hard as we could and that was the difference for us."
UBC Okanagan improves to 7-1 on the season, while Calgary falls to 4-6.
Brianna Beamish finished out the final set with an ace after a kill from Michelle Jakszuk, to give the Heat their second straight win since their first loss against the University of Manitoba. Claiming the weekend series was a huge success for the Heat to regain momentum in hopes of clenching back their title of first place in the Canada West conference.
Brianna Beamish's 13 of UBCO’s 40, finishing off with a .132 attack percentage. Beamish asserted her seniority early on the match with a high of seven kills in the first set. Beamish also had two service aces, her 13 kills led UBC Okanagan.
The Dinos' were led by Beth Vinnell, who owned 10 of their 29 kills (.042) attack percentage.
Emily Oxland had 32 of UBCO's 36 assists, and Brianna Solberg had the second most assists of the game with 22 of the Dinos' low 25. Erika Myhre led in digs with 12 of 47, with a close 11 of 54 by counterpart Kailin Jones.
Going into the first technical the Heat led 16-6 with eight kills compared to the Dinos’ two. A short breather was all the Dinos needed to get back into the game, and Jillian Lazic's three serves brought them to a low two-point trail. But it wouldn't be enough and UBCO finished the set 25-23.
The Dinos managed to take an early lead in the second and keep it going into the technical, leading by one point The two teams yo-yoed on the scoreboard until Heat's Beamish solidified their second set win off a kill.
Running off the momentum of two wins in two sets, UBCO took the lead in the third, but it wouldn't last long and Calgary would tie it 6-6 off Vinnell's serves.
Going into the third technical the Dinos led 16-13, and it looked like they would be able to push it to a fourth set but UBCO brought the Heat and took the third set 25-21.
"It felt like everyone was doing their jobs - there weren't a lot of highs and lows, like we've been having," said Calgary's head coach Natalie Gurnsey, noting and is happier with the Saturday performance.
"Was it our best offensive game? No. But, did it get better in some ways? Yes."
Heat coach Manuel also spoke highly of his opponent saying over and over again at how tough Calgary played his Heat squad. "[Calgary] played a tough game. We had a big run in the first set, we had a good start but they just played super tough from there. Kept us off balance with their serving, they ran a good offence, and played some good defence and kept us off balanced."
"We were fully engaged this weekend," said Manuel, "and that was just the difference maker. We wore them down and even when we were making errors, we made our play a little bit better when it mattered. That was the difference."
The Dinos will regroup and get set to host the Saskatchewan Huskies next weekend, while the Heat stay on the road as they head east to face Brandon, game times Brandon Friday, 20th at 4 p.m. PST and Saturday, 21st at 3 p.m. PST, in Manitoba at the Healthy Living Centre.
~ With notes from Bronté James // Dinos communications