The UBC Okanagan Heat women's volleyball team played their final match of the Canada West regular season on Saturday night in Kelowna, earning a three-set victory against the MacEwan Griffins. Set scores were 25-11, 25-23, 25-23.
With the win the Heat finish the Canada West season with a record of 15-9, securing the fifth seed, and will play their next matches of the postseason on March 3-5 when they travel to take on the 18-6 University of Calgary Dinos. the fourth seed, in a best-of-three Canada West quarter-finals.
Game one is scheduled for Friday night at 6 p.m., game two will be on Saturday at 6 p.m. and game three, if neccessary, is scheduled for Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. All times are Calgary local time (MST).
It was UBCO's annual Senior Night, as graduating student-athletes Emily Oxland, Kaitlynn Given, and Megan Festival were honoured after the match.
UBC Okanagan finished with 49 kills and a .293 hitting percentage, and held MacEwan to 30 kills and a hitting percentage of .137. The Heat also had the advantage in assists (47-28), service aces (7-3), digs (61-47) and total blocks (4-3).
Kaitlynn Given ended her Heat regular season career with a match-high 13 kills on .312 hitting, and added nine digs. Megan Festival, Aidan Lea, and Siobhan Fitpatrick all contributed for Heat with nine kills apiece, and Festival also led the match with three service aces. Emily Oxland had a match-high 36 assists, and a match-high 16 digs.
Cassidy Kinsella once again led the Griffins, with a team-high 11 kills. Claire McLoughlin led MacEwan in assists, with 19, and Kate Rozendaal had a team-high nine digs.
The Heat came out swinging in the opening set, winning it in fashion by a score of 25-11. They had 15 kills on a .345 hitting percentage and held the Griffins to (6) on .065 hitting. The home side jumped out to a 3-0 lead to start, and never relinquished it. Not once were MacEwan able to string together more than two consecutive points, and at the technical time-out UBCO had a 16-7 lead. Two of the final three Heat points were provided by kills from Aidan Lea, before the Griffins' fourth attacking error ended the frame.
The second set was far closer than the first, and at the technical time-out the Heat were up just a point at 16-15. As in the first set the Heat had the statistical advantage in the second, putting away 18 kills on .283 hitting to the Griffins' 12 on a hitting percentage of .146. The Okanagan side started out strong, scoring eight of nine points to jump ahead 9-3 before the Griffins went on a four-point run to make it 9-7. The first MacEwan lead of the match came when they scored three straight to pull ahead 14-13, but attack errors gave the Heat back the lead at the break. The Griffins were able to stave off set points twice to pull within one at 24-23, but Kaitlynn Given buried an impressive kill to give the Heat the set win and the 2-0 lead in the match.
MacEwan had their strongest start in the third set, jumping out to a 7-3 lead, bolstered by three kills from star hitter Cassidy Kinsella. Kills from Megan Festival and Aidan Lea paired with a errors by the Griffins brought the Heat even at 9-9. UBCO took their first lead of the set at 12-11 after another Festival kill and a service ace by Erin Drew.
At the technical time-out the home side held a 16-14 lead. A four-point run consisting of four straight kills by Kaitlynn Given then put the Heat up 21-17, quickly followed by a huge block by Given and Drew to make it 22-19. Drew then scored a service ace, before UBCO earned match point at 24-22 on a Festival kill and Lea killed the final point to end the Heat's regular season with a 3-0 victory.
The MacEwan Griffins finish their season with a record of 8-16, 10th in the Canada West standings, and will miss the playoffs.
Megan Festival:Q: What is your favourite memory on the court?
A: My favourite memory on the court is last year, our middle who just graduated, Katie Wuttunee, had a really nice back set that she’d been working on all year, she back set it to me, it was against U of A in the Final Four, and she back set it to me and I had a pack against one of my best friends on the other team. I’ll remember that for a while.
Q: What is a favourite memory off of the court?
A: Probably tonight when the three graduating seniors, we just kind of had our arms around each other and instead of crying we just laughed and made jokes about the season, kind of teased our teammates and coach. It was a nice way to end it instead of crying.
Q: Does it help put off any feelings of finality knowing that you’re going on to the playoffs?
A: Yeah, definitely. Last time I get to play in front of a home crowd and our own fans, but our season’s not done. I definitely think our team has a lot left in store, so I’m still excited.
Q: Your teams have made the playoffs five straight times. Does that make the whole experience that much more special to know that as a group you had that immediate impact?
A: Every year has been such a fight to make the Final Four and those playoffs, so every year I’m still really grateful to make it this far. I’m so proud to be part of a successful program, it means a lot to contribute to it and say I had a part in really growing the program.
Q: How much do you think the program has changed since you became a part of it?
A: I think it’s changed a lot, especially in the confidence, and Steve’s ability to recruit. We now have a reputation as a school that can compete with big schools such as UBC and U of A. All those big schools that have such a history, we’re now counted as one of them.
Q: After having so much success, do you think it will be difficult to move from the regimented student-athlete lifestyle to what other people call ‘real life?’
A: Yeah, I’m a little concerned as to how I’m gonna deal with that. It’ll be interesting, but hopefully I’ll stay in athletics and maybe pick up a new sport or find something else to really fill my time. I’m not sure how I’m gonna do with that, but we’ll see. It’ll be nice, it’ll be new, so I’ll figure out something to fill my time with.
Q: What’s next for you after graduation?
A: I have a job lined up with a business in Calgary. I’m taking finance in school right now, so I’ll get to do some of that and hopefully continue on with this company and start making money instead of spending it.
Emily Oxland:Q: What is your favourite memory on the court?
A: I think winning the bronze medal last year at nationals. Playing with some of my best friends from last year that graduated, it was just really fun and a big honour.
Q: What is a favourite memory off of the court?
A: I think just making so many friends and hanging out with them all the time, and that family bond that we have as a team.
Q: Did that change at all after graduating six players at the end of last season?
A: It changed a little bit, but I know that we fifth years really wanted the first years to feel welcome, so we tried really hard to make that family feel again. It was a little bit challenging, but by the end right now we feel really good about each other.
Q: Is it a point of pride for you as a team to have been this successful again after graduating so many players?
A: Yeah, of course. I think we knew it was going to be a challenge this year just getting everyone going, and a bunch of new people being starters. There were some challenges, but it feels really good to be making playoffs and having a good team again.
Q: You’re going to the playoffs for the fifth time in a row, does that help put off the finality of a Seniors Night like this for you three?
A: Yeah. I didn’t really feel like it was Seniors Night, just because we’re going into playoffs so it didn’t really hit me. I’m excited to see where we’ll go in the next few weeks.
Q: After all the success you’ve had here, do you think it will be difficult to adjust from the regimented style of playing and going to school that you’ve had?
A: Yeah, it’ll be very different. I was talking to Megan the other day about it, and we’re just going to miss the competing, putting yourself out there trying to win games. We’re going to miss that.
Q: What’s next for you after graduation?
A: I have no idea. Right now I’m taking the next year off, I’m going to just work. Then I’m going to apply for grad school in public health and nursing. That’s the plan right now. It might change.
Kaitlynn Given:Q: What is your favourite memory on the court?
A: My favourite memory on the court has to be when we were at home and we got to host Final Four. Last play to win us a spot in the national championships which we had been fighting for for three years. That was definitely it for me. We took it away from UBC. That was obviously the best feeling ever, it solidified our changes, I’ll remember that one the most.
Q: What is a favourite memory off of the court?
A: That has got to be with some of the girls I’ve gotten to play with for the past five years. I don’t know if I can pick exactly one out, but spending summers here with a couple different girls on the team and getting to maintain those friendships that we’ve built throughout the years hopefully for the rest of our lives.
Q: How do you think the program has changed since you joined it?
A: Since I’ve joined we’ve made huge strides in the CIS league. When I joined it was the second year that UBCO had been in CIS, so we’ve taken our team from being a team that had more losses than wins to definitely a team with more wins than losses, and become one of those respected names in the league and that’s huge for me and the team.
Q: Playing your final match in front of a home crowd has to be special, but did playing as well as you three did make it even better for you?
A: Absolutely. I mean last night was kind of a rough go for us, it wasn’t really the volleyball that we’re used to playing so it was huge for us to turn it around and have that really happy and positive mentality that we did tonight that helped us get a win.
Q: Does knowing that you’re going to the playoffs again help to put off the finality of Seniors Night for you?
A: Yeah, and for me personally it just took a lot of pressure off of tonight, knowing that it’s not my last game. I will keep continuing to play with this team. It definitely took away some of the pressures of tonight so I could really just enjoy it.
Q: After all the success that you’ve had here, do you think it’s going to be difficult to move away from the regimented lifestyle of a high-level athlete?
A: It definitely will. Come September it’s going to be weird not to be registering for courses or wondering where we’re going for preseason for sure, but after spending five years here I’m so happy for everything that I’ve gotten out of volleyball and very thankful for getting to spend five years here that I know I’m just going to take that and keep going with it for the rest of my life hopefully.
Q: What’s next for you after graduation?
A: I’m hoping to stay in Kelowna and work for a company that I’ve had the opportunity to work for for the past two summers. They’re mainly an engineering firm, but they do some urban planning which is really where I’d like to go with my career. So we’ll see how things work out with them, I’m hoping that I’ll stick on for another year and then hopefully apply for masters programs come September of 2018.
contributed by Grayson Leahy & Oliver Rizun, UBC Okanagan
The UBC Okanagan men's volleyball team closed out their season with a four-set win over the visiting MacEwan University Griffins on Friday night. The Heat finished the season on a four-game winning streak and hold a final record of 9-15.
With their ninth win the Heat men set a program record for wins in a season since joining the Canada West back in 2011/2012. An impressive start for interim head coach Brad Hudson in his first season at the helm of the Heat.
The Heat recognized two players before the game: Alex Swiatlowski and Grant Sonnenberg, who both played their last game in a Heat uniform on Saturday night.
Although Lars Bornemann once again led the way for the Heat as he finished with a match-high nine kills it was second year libero Eli Risso who set a Canada West record. Risso closed out the season with nine digs in the final match, and finished the season with 295 to lead Canada West and set a new conference record.
First year outside hitter Kyle Hinchey also chipped in with eight kills for the home team. The Griffins were led by Jordan Peters who had eight kills, as well as Kai Hesthammer who finished with six.
The first set went back and forth as neither team could gain much separation going into the technical timeout with the score 16-14 for MacEwan. After a quick 3-0 run gave the visitors a 22-18 lead, the Heat could not get back into the first set and would lose 25-21. The Heat had the advantage in kills in the first set (15-12) but five more attack errors proved to be the difference. Jordan Peters finished the first set with six kills for the Griffins on a .400 hitting percentage.
The Heat got off to a quick start in the second set thanks to a 5-0 run and forced a MacEwan timeout with the score 8-3. Alex Swiatlowski had back-to-back aces for the home side during the run. After a 5-2 run by the Griffins cut the deficit to only two, Heat head coach Brad Hudson was forced to use a timeout with the score 14-12 for the Heat. That's as close as the team from Edmonton would get, as the Heat closed out the set 25-21 with the final point coming on a Lars Bornemann kill.
After a back-and-forth start to the third set, the Heat took control of both the set and the match thanks to an 8-0 run that put them ahead at the technical timeout, 16-10. The run continued as four more points followed, extending the run to 12 points in a row. It would eventually come to an end, but not before the Heat took a commanding 20-11 lead in the set. The Heat would win the third by a score of 25-15 and take a one-set lead going into the fourth.
The Heat continued the momentum to start the fourth set and they led 8-4 early, forcing a timeout from the visitors. The Griffins could never get back into the set and they trailed 16-10 at the technical timeout. With the score 21-12 the crowd started chanting "we want Grant" as they wanted to see senior player Grant Sonnenberg get some final playing time before his career came to a close. The coach heard the crowd's wishes, and the senior middle blocker made one final appearance after coming on to a standing ovation from the UBC Okanagan crowd. The Heat won the final set 25-18.
The Heat had the advantage in kills (30-24), assists (29-23), and digs (22-15). The visitors had the advantage in hitting percentage (.315 - .267) as well as seven fewer attack errors (14-7).
Alex Swiatlowski:Q: What is your favourite memory on the court?
A: I know it's a cliché but I'd probably have to say this last one, even being on the sideline those last couple points there. You see your team excel. We’ve gone through some tough times for sure the last couple years and it's amazing to leave this program in a much better position than when I came in, so it was beautiful to just sit back and watch and have fun and play good volleyball.
Q: What is your favourite memory off the court?
A: I'd have to say in my first and second year, when we went down to Hermosa Beach, California and it was an amazing bonding moment with some of the best friends, and you keep those friends forever. Most of those guys aren’t on the team anymore but it was definitely an amazing part of my life.
Q: How do you think the program has changed since you joined it?
A: Biggest thing for me is mentality. I will forever be grateful for Brad Hudson, our interim coach this year. That’s his main point, is raising great men. Men who have good morals and stuff like that. I think that’s the biggest difference this year.
Q: What does it mean for you guys to play your last game on home court and get a win like that?
A: That was awesome. I got hit in the head last Thursday, so I came back on Saturday and I wasn’t allowed to play because of concussion protocol and I was fearing not being able to play here in our last home game but it was amazing. Both to be able to play really good volleyball and in our home gym I think it's just the biggest difference-maker. Tons of support from family and friends and the community. So it's awesome to play for them and to show them some good ball.
Q: What’s next after graduation for you?
A: After graduation I’m looking to go play pro next year, probably in Europe somewhere. Not sure where yet but I'll keep my eyes and ears open and hopefully find the right spot. And then after that I'll be returning to Canada and hopefully be going into pharmacy.
Grant Sonnenberg:Q: What is your favourite memory on the court?
A: You know, there was a moment a couple years ago, or it was probably last year. We were in Brandon and we were down by a bunch to a team we shouldn’t have been losing to, and we sorta start to come back and it’s a tight game and we need to win this next set, and its close in the end and there's a ball that kinda gets dug on our side and goes tight to the net. Our setter, who’s not particularly good at hitting second balls traditionally, it's very high in the air and he is sorta standing there for a second and looks, up starts to approach, throws his arms backwards and we're all just thinking behind him “No,no,no,no,no” and all of a sudden he goes up hits it with sorta the low part of his hand, and it goes off a defender and out the side and we all just lose our minds. Seems like there' hope, we caught a break, just a moment of elation.
Q: What is your favourite memory off the court?
A: Oh there's so many to choose from. A lot of good people, a lot of good things. First time we get together as a team, introducing the new guys. There were a couple nights when we went on the trips to California and we’ve had the opportunity to just sorta hang out together and discuss and whole variety of topics.
Q: How do you think the program has changed since you joined it?
A: The way it felt when I came in the first year I was here was that this was the time of change, time to transition. So there was kinda like an old guard of players in their last year of playing and they worked well with the current coach and they had been very successful in the college league. And it was a little bit different, their sorta style was a little bit different from the big recruiting class that I was a part of. So there was very much a dichotomy of old versus young in that case. Over time, I think the communication between all the players has grown stronger, we have become a more cohesive team, a stronger team technically, especially this year. This has been a real sign, when things haven’t been successful in terms of wins and losses, this was a solid turnaround and I think that the future is bright for the program now, and the people like myself who are leaving have really cared and have given everything in order to build something that lasted here. That was the goal.
Q: What’s next for you?
A: Well it's not really the end because I'm here for my masters in mechanical engineering and I will hopefully defend my thesis next year so that’s another full year of school. I’m talking to the coaching staff a little bit, I'd really like to stick around and help out a little bit if I can and if they'd have me. I'm not ready to be done with it just yet I suppose. After that I don’t know, very difficult to tell. I've always kinda done things with the next step in mind and then figured it out as I go.
Q: What does it mean to play in front of the home crowd in your last match?
A: These guys? The people who come to these games are actually really invested in the program and it's really sweet to see, especially on a night like this. It’s a really great reminder of the wonderful community, and the atmosphere at UBC Okanagan is fantastic. There's continuity, not necessarily the old button-down jacket kinda thing but just good people who really care about you as a person and want you to do well, and really enjoy the success of the program as a whole. So being able to show your contributions and receive the warmth and affection is a very gratifying experience and I'm very glad to spend my time here.
Contributed by Grayson Leahy & Oliver Rizun, UBC Okanagan
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