Three players play their final matches at home this weekend. Megan Festival, Emily Oxland, and Kaitlynn Given and the rest of the women's volleyball team will look to close out their regular season on a high note against MacEwan before heading into the postseason.
Game Times
Canada West conference matches
Friday, February 24th
6 PM | #9 Heat Women's Volleyball (13-9) vs the MacEwan Griffins (8-14) | Live Stats | Webcast / Canada West conference match
Saturday, February 25th
5 PM | #9 Heat Women's Volleyball vs the MacEwan Griffins | Live Stats | Webcast / Canada West conference match
*Ticket Information | All matches to be played at the Gymnasium at UBC Okanagan.
| UBCO | TALE OF THE TAPE | GMU |
|---|---|---|
| 13-9 | W-L | 8-14 |
| 5-5 | Last 10 | 5-5 |
| 2-3 | Last 5 | 4-1 |
| 81 (6) | Sets | 81 (6) |
| 1.44 | Sets ratio (W/L) | 0.57 |
| 7-3 | 3 set matches | 9-2 |
| 5-4 | 4 set matches | 4-3 |
| 1-2 | 5 set matches | 1-3 |
| 11.95 (3) | Kills/set | 11.19 (7) |
| 10.16 | Opp. Kills/set | 11.72 |
| .175 (6) | Hitting Pct. | .162 (8) |
| .149 | Opp Hitting Pct. | .189 |
| 11.14 (4) | Assists/set | 10.42 (7) |
| 2.25 (4) | Aces/set | 1.84 (8) |
| 13.91 (4) | Digs/set | 13.65 (5) |
| 13.15 | Opp. Diggs/set | 15.37 |
| 2.07 (6) | Blocks/set | 2.10 (5) |
| 16.3 (4) | Points/set | 15.1 (7) |
#9 UBC OKANAGAN HEAT (20-11, 13-9 Canada West)CIS National Ranking: T-#9
CanWest Standings: #5
Last week: 1-1 vs TRU
Streak: 1L
2015-16 Record: (34-4, 22-2) (1st)
2015 CIS Tournament: 3-2 - Bronze
Last CanWest Title: N/A
Last CIS Title: N/A
This Week for the Heat: The UBC Okanagan Heat women’s volleyball team will finish off their 2016/17 regular season schedule against the MacEwan Griffins, with matches on Friday, February 24 and Saturday, February 25 in Kelowna.
Current Form: The Heat women are once again playoff-bound, as they have locked up a postseason spot and sit tied for fifth in Canada West with a record of 13-9. They split their matches last weekend against the Thompson Rivers WolfPack, with whom they are tied for fifth place in the standings.
Playoff scenario: Only two things are set in stone on the Canada West women's side heading into the final weekend. Six of the seven teams have already locked up spots in the post season but the order is hardly a sure thing after UBC swept previously unbeaten Alberta last weekend. In already: Alberta, Trinity Western, UBC, Calgary, UBC Okanagan, and Thompson Rivers. One spot remains for either Mount Royal (10-12), MacEwan (8-14), or Brandon (8-14).
UBCO will either finish 5th or 6th and travel play the 4th or 3rd seed on their home court respectively. Mathematically the top four spots are all still in play with Alberta (20-2), TWU (19-3), UBC (18-4), and Calgary (18-4) all able to finish anywhere from first to fourth. The top seed does not play a quarter-final series (best of three for the quarters), and earns the right to host the Canada West Final Four.
Key Players: Aidan Lea still owns the best hitting percentage in Canada West, at .343. Megan Festival has continued her run as one of the best servers in the conference, with an average of .50 per set.
Senior night: Saturday will be the final home match in the careers of Megan Festival, Kaitlynn Given, and Emily Oxland, read the profile below.
Team Stat: The Heat women continue to be one of the most consistently high-scoring teams in Canada West, and they currently hold the third-best kills per set average in the conference with 11.95.
Overall Head to Head vs. MacEwan: In the four conferences matches to date between the Heat and the Griffins, the UBCO women are yet to lose. Their last matches were on February 12 & 13, 2016 when the Heat won both by scores of 3-0.
MACEWEAN UNIVERSITY GRIFFINS (8-14 Canada West)
CIS National Ranking: N/A
CanWest Standings: #6
Last week: 2-0 vs MAN
Streak: 4W
2015-16 record, conference: 7-17, 11th
2016 CW playoffs: DNQ
Last CW title: N/A
Last CIS title: N/A
preseason preview courtesy of Canadawest.org
Griffins Coming into this Weekend: MacEwan currently sit tied for seventh in the Canada West standings with a record of 8-14. It is highly unlikely that they will make the postseason unless they win both matches against the Heat, and both Brandon and Mount Royal get swept this weekend.
Schedule Notes: The Griffins have won their last four matches, against Regina (3-21) and Manitoba (6-16). Against teams with winning records they are 1-9.
Key Players: Cassidy Kinsella currently owns the third-best kills per set average in Canada West, with 4.05 this season. She is also tied for second-best in total kills with 328, and McKenna Stevenson has a team-best 27 service aces.
Senior night: The Griffins have no graduating or players in their final year on their roster.
Team Stat: MacEwan have the fifth-best total digs in the conference, with 1106.
Key additions (name / position / eligibility / hometown / last team):
Carly Weber / M/O / 1 / Markham, ON / Phoenix U18 Club
Rachel Jorvina / L / 1 / Edmonton, AB / Alberta U18 Provincial Team
Key losses (name / position / hometown / years with program):
Jasey Hook / M / Edmonton, AB / 3
Key performer:
Cassidy Kinsella / Outside hitter / 4th-year / Leduc, AB
Graduating student athletes:
#1 Emily Oxland - Emily burst onto the scene for the Heat, as she was the top-ranked high school girls volleyball player in the province out of high school after winning two AAAA provincial gold medals and one bronze with Handsworth Secondary. Emily was named MVP in her Grade 10 and 11 seasons and the recruit from North Vancouver did not miss a step when she suited up for the Heat.
Set to graduate with a degree in Human Kinetics in June, Emily was and still is the only UBCO student athlete to earn a spot on the CIS All-Rookie team. In that same first season she was her team's MVP and a Canada West All-Star. Also in her rookie season Emily scorched the league with 46 services aces - then a conference record and only broken last year when the league schedule expanded to 24 games, two more than she needed to hit 46.
For her career 'Ox' has always been a weapon from the service line and is third all-time in Canada West history with 154 total aces. Setting for the team in all five years Oxland has amassed nearly 3000 assists (2929) which is by far the high mark at UBC Okanagan and 5th in Canada West history. Her career match high of 61 assists versus Calgary (Jan 19, 2013) is the top mark at the school and is just shy of top-10 all-time in Canada West. Her best from the service line in a match was 6 service aces versus Manitoba (Nov 17, 2012) in just her 8th Canada West contest ever played.
Emily needs to play only four more sets to hit 400 in her career and has been on the court for 109 matches before this weekend and in 2015-16 Oxland was a finalist for Female Outstanding Athlete of the Year for UBC Okanagan.
Since her arrival at UBC Okanagan in 2012, the Heat have made the Canada West postseason every year with Emily on the court, last spring culminating with a trip to a CIS national championship, and a winning national medal.
#6 Megan Festival - It will be strange to play a women's volleyball match at UBC Okanagan without a Festival in a Heat uniform. Megan followed her sister Jill to UBC Okanagan from Calgary's Western Canada High School in 2012.
A two-time CIS Academic All-Canadian, Megan will graduate in June with a Bachelor of Management. Stepping straight into a key role on the Heat in her first season Megan was named her team's Rookie of the Year in 2012/13 when she played in all 22 matches as a freshman. Megan's career numbers at UBC Okanagan are not only near the top of key categories for the Heat but also in the conference.
Her Canada West career marks going into the final weekend have Megan 12th all-time in digs (995) and near the top-20 in kills with (867), if Megan hits 900 digs and 900 kills after this weekend she would be one of only six players ever to reach that mark.
Throughout her career Megan has been able to score points for UBC Okanagan from the service line, her (160) aces are second best all time in Canada West and tops for the Heat. Her digs and kills are both second-best totals in school history, and her 867 kills trail Alex Basso (2008-12) by just 25 (892) with two matches to play.
On defense her (995) digs trail her coach's school mark of (1048), Jackie Toews (nee-Wong) set the mark when she starred for the team then known as the 'Lakers' in the CCAA from 2001-04.
In a great career Megan has been on the court longer than any other at UBCO, and her first set played this weekend will be the 400th of her career in regular season conference matches. Megan is also tops in matches played with 112.
Other benchmarks Megan owns at UBC Okanagan: Tops in points scored: 1087.0 (867k 160a 92b), blocks (106 / 9th), digs per set (2.49 / 7th), are some of the notables but her name is everywhere in the record book.
Single match highs for Festival are Kills: 20, Regina, Feb 07, 2014; at Calgary, Nov 13, 2015; Serve aces: 6, at Thompson Rivers, Feb 16, 2017; Brandon, Oct 28, 2016; Digs: 24, at Alberta, Oct 10, 2014.
Megan is known to be fiercely competitive and has been to the Canada West post season all fiver years of her career and of course was a key contributor on last season's national bronze medal team.
#8 Kaitlynn Given - Kelowna Secondary product Kaitlynn Given, she was a highly-coveted recruit in high school after leading her Owls squad to provincial gold, where she was the 2012 AAAA Championship MVP.
Studying Geography, Kaitlynn will graduate in June with her Bachelor's degree. A superb academic, Given has earned a CIS Academic All-Canadian three straight years and is on her way to a fourth.
For each of the past two season, the only two in which this award has been given out at the annual UBC Okanagan awards banquet, Kaitlynn has been a finalist for the Female Provost Award for Excellence (Two Semester category) and this past year Kaitlynn earned a Heat Scholar Athlete distinction.
Excellence in her studies was consistently equaled by excellence on the court. With 648 kills heading into the final weekend Kaitlynn sits 5th all-time in school history, and she also has amassed over 500 digs (562 / 9th), over 800 points (805 / 7th), and nearly 200 blocks (177 / 3rd) - all marks that are top-10 in school history. If 'KG' plays both matches this weekend she will hit the century mark putting her top-3 at UBCO in matches played, and her 331 sets played is 4th-best.
Like the other two women's volleyball players graduating this year Kaitlynn made it to the Canada West postseason all five years of her career, and she was also a key contributor on last season's national bronze medal team.