Saturday night in the first national semifinal the UBC Okanagan Heat fell to the undefeated Toronto Varsity Blues in four sets Play either TWU or UBC tomorrow (Sunday) at 1 p.m. PT for a national medal.
Women's Volleyball (CIS national championship semifinal match)
Saturday, March 12, 2016
HLC (Healthy Learning Centre), Brandon University, Brandon, MB
SET SCORES 1 2 3 4 TEAM RECORDS UBC Okanagan........ (1) 25 24 22 21 1-1 Toronto............. (3) 21 26 25 25 2-0
BRANDON, Man. (CIS) – Katie Wuttunee's best match of her career came on the biggest stage the UBC Okanagan Heat women's volleyball team has undertaken. She surpassed her career total in kills in a CIS national semifinal.
However Wuttunee's tremendous match wasn't enough to get by the OUA champion University of Toronto. The Blues have accomplished something they have never achieved before; a berth in the National Final.
The Heat fell (21-25, 26-24, 25-22, 25-21) in the semifinal match on Saturday in Brandon.
CHAMPIONSHIP WEBSITE: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wvball/index
The Heat made some history just by qualifying to Brandon for the first CIS Women’s Volleyball Championship in the school’s history, and Head Coach Steve Manuel believes his team can learn by following the example set by Toronto.
“Nobody wins a national championship the first time they’re at it, ever,” said Manuel, whose team will play for the bronze medal on Sunday. “It just doesn’t happen. That’s a miracle if that happens. We were trying to do the impossible and we just came up a bit short.”
The Heat will continue to try and make history on Sunday when they play for a first ever CIS medal as they battle an old foe in the UBC Thunderbirds for a national bronze medal.
The match will go at 1 p.m. PT on the final day of the national tournament in Brandon at the HLC.
Toronto will play the Canada West champion and defending national champion Trinity Western Spartans, after they won the second semifinal in four sets over the UBC Thunderbirds. If the Varsity Blues win the final, they will be Ontario’s first CIS women’s volleyball champion since Western won the title in 1976 in Winnipeg.
The Varsity Blues made it to the semifinals last year before losing to the Alberta Pandas, and Toronto setter Madelyn Mandryk said they were determined not to let that happen again.
“You know what a terrible feeling it is to lose, so it gives you that extra motivation,” said Mandryk, who had 51 assists, one kill and four total blocks.
“I know looking out at the court when we were down at times it was just a feeling that there’s no way we were going to lose this match.”
The Varsity Blues have lost the first set in both of their matches so far after beating the McGill Martlets in five sets in Friday’s quarter-finals. Toronto went undefeated in its conference in the regular season and playoffs, and head coach Kristine Drakich said her players’ confidence helps them through difficult times.
The U of T reached the technical timeout first in all four sets but it was only the first set that the Heat were able to get to 25 first. Wuttunee had five of her 20 kills in the first and Kaitlyn Given finished off the set with kill of her own to give the Heat their fourth straight set won at the national championship.
Wuttunee’s career high of 20 kills came on just 26 attacks for an incredible attack rate of .769, Megan Festival and Brianna Beamish both hit double digits in kills with 12 (.139) and 10 (.103) respectively. Givcewn would tally eight (.200).
Toronto also finished with three players with double digits in kills, Caleigh Cruickshank, the Blues Player of the Match finished with 18 (.311), CIS Rookie of the Year Alina Dormann put down 16 kills (.286) and Tessa Davis hit nearly 500 on her 10 kills (.471). Cruickshank also led the match with three service aces. Toronto out served the Kelowna squad spinning five aces and just four errors compared to four aces and seven errors.
The second set after the technical time out was closely contested with UBCO going up 23-22 only to see the Blues score four of the next five and grab what turned out to be a pivotal second set (26-24).
Wuttunee had six of her kills in the third set but the Heat couldn’t shut down the Blues who hit .387 in the set and never trailed after (4-3). Heat dropped the third set (25-22).
For the match the Heat allowed the Blues to hit (.257) compared to (.245), both teams had 10 blocks. Katy Klomps led the Heat for the second straight day, she finished with six blocks.
The fourth set saw The Heat once again fall behind early (4-0). After battling back the Varsity Blues needed four set points before UBCO finally succumbed.
Sunday will be the last match for nearly half of this team as six players will finish their eligibility for UBC Okanagan. Brianna Beamish, Kate DeJong, Kailin Jones, Katy Klomps, Chandler Proch, and Katie Wuttunee will don the Blue and Gold for the last time.
STAT LEADERS
Complete Stats: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wvball/2016/championship
Toronto
Kills: Caleigh Cruickshank (18), Alina Dormann (16)
Points: Caleigh Cruickshank (22), Alina Dormann (19)
Blocks: Tessa Davis, Bojana Radan (0,5)
Digs: Anna Feore (13)
Service aces: Caleigh Cruickshank (3)
Player of the match: Caleigh Cruickshank
UBC Okanagan
Kills: Katie Wuttunee (20), Megan Festival (12)
Points: Katie Wuttunee (21), Megan Festival (12.5)
Blocks: Katy Klomps (0,6)
Digs: Kailin Jones (17)
Service aces: Michelle Jakszuk, Emily Oxland, Chandler Proch, Siobhan Fitzpatrick (1)
Player of the match: Katie Wuttunee
CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE & RESULTS (PACIFIC TIME)
Friday, March 11
10:30 Quarter-final #1: Toronto 3, McGill 2 (18-25, 25-17, 25-27, 25-23, 15-13)
12:30 Quarter-final #2: UBC Okanagan 3, Dalhousie 0 (25-17, 25-10, 25-15)
16:00 Quarter-final #3: Brandon 1 vs. Trinity Western 3 (25-23, 25-15, 23-25, 25-19)
18:00 Quarter-final #4: UBC 3, Montreal 1 (20-25, 25-20, 28-26, 25-20)
Saturday, March 12
10:30 Consolation #1: McGill 2 vs. Dalhousie 3 (25-21, 17-25, 25-20, 20-25, 15-12)
12:30 Consolation #2: Brandon 0 vs. Montreal 3 (25-15, 28-26, 25-20)
16:00 Semifinal #1: Toronto 3 vs. UBC Okanagan 1 (21-25, 26-24, 25-22, 25-21)
18:00 Semifinal #2: UBC vs. Trinity Western (WCGtv / www.CIS-SIC.tv)
Sunday, March 13
11:00 5th place (WCGtv / www.CIS-SIC.tv)
13:00 Bronze medal (WCGtv / www.CIS-SIC.tv)
16:00 Championship final (WCGtv / www.CIS-SIC.tv)
About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Every year, over 12,000 student-athletes and 700 coaches from 56 universities and four regional associations vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca or follow us on: