The UBCO women earned their second 3-0 win over the Huskies on Saturday night, holding Saskatchewan to no set wins through the weekend.
Women’s Volleyball (Canada West conference match)
Saturday, February 4th, 2017
UBC Okanagan, Kelowna, BC
FINAL 1 2 3 SCORE Saskatchewan (6-12) 20 18 15 0 UBC Okanagan (12-6) 25 25 25 3
KELOWNA, BC – The UBC Okanagan Heat women’s volleyball team took down the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in straight sets, earning their second consecutive 3-0 victory. Set scores were 25-20, 25-18, and 25-15.
The story of the Saturday night match can be seen in the difference in consistency between the two teams. The Heat put away two more kills than the Huskies (30-28), but Saskatchewan made 22 attacking errors while UBCO made just nine. The resulting attacking percentages were .226 for the Heat and .056 for the Huskies.
The opening set was the strongest for the Huskies. Despite losing the first-set loss, Saskatchewan finished with 13 kills to the Heat’s 10. As with the match as a whole, though, the errors were the difference. UBCO made three attacking errors, and hit .184, while Saskatchewan made eight, and hit .122.
Individually, Kaitlynn Given for the Heat and Emily Koshinsky finished tied for a match-high in kills with 10 apiece. Behind Given for the Heat were Megan Festival, Aidan Lea, and Michelle Jakszuk, who each finished with five. Erin Drew finished with a match-high three total blocks.
Behind Koshinsky in kills for the Huskies was Emily Humbert, who finished with eight. Mackenzie Pek finished with a match-high in assists with 23.
Again in the second set the Huskies finished with more kills, 11-9. Again they made eight errors and would hit .081 though, while the Heat made just two and hit .269. UBCO were able to jump out to a five-point lead around the technical time-out as a Kaitlynn Given kill was followed by three consecutive Huskies errors to put the home side up 18-13. Saskatchewan was able to string together three straight points on a kill and consecutive service aces to pull within five points at 23-18, but back-to-back kills from Megan Festival cemented the set win for the Heat.
The third set was the most dominant for the Heat, as they finished with 11 kills and hit .241 while the Huskies had four and hit -.067. Saskatchewan was able to keep it close early in the final frame, tying it up at 7-7 with a three-point run. In respone the Heat then put together two five-point runs, separated by a single point for the Huskies on a Koshinsky kill. Those two Heat runs put them up 17-8, and they cruised to the 25-15 set win from that point on.
The UBC Okanagan Heat (12-6) will play their next matches on the road, travelling to Edmonton to take on the undefeated University of Alberta Pandas (18-0) on Friday, February 10 and Saturday, February 11. The University of Saskatchewan Huskies (6-12) will be at home those same days, taking on the University of Calgary Dinos (14-4).
~ Grayson Leahy, UBC Okanagan