‘Birds battle Huskies to open playoffs for third straight season

VANCOUVER – The No.4-seed UBC Thunderbirds (16-8) are hosting the No.5-seed Saskatchewan Huskies (16-8) in a best-of-three Canada West quarter-final, beginning their playoffs with a battle against Saskatchewan for a third consecutive season. Each match will be played after the UBC women’s team plays their quarter-final, with Friday’s scheduled for approximately 8:00 p.m. (PT), Saturday’s for 6:00 p.m. (PT) and if needed, Sunday’s for 5:00 p.m. (PT), all to be played at War Memorial Gym.

The T-Birds earned the right to host in the most dramatic possible fashion last Saturday. In the final regular season match across all of Canada West, the ‘Birds and Brandon Bobcats went to a fifth set, knowing that the winner would host a quarter-final series and the loser would be on the road. Sure enough, UBC pulled out a 15-13 victory, putting them fourth in Canada West and dropping Brandon to sixth, despite the teams finishing with the same record. So close were the conference standings this year that had that fifth set gone the other way Brandon would have finished third and UBC in sixth.
 

“Hosting at home is huge, especially with a younger, more inexperienced group,” reflected UBC head coach Mike Hawkins, who has now qualified for the playoffs in each of his six seasons leading the team. “Just being able to play in the friendly confines of War Memorial and having the home fans behind us is pretty massive. We experienced a pretty fun environment last year playing against Saskatchewan in Saskatchewan. To have an entire crowd against you is kind of tough to overcome. We’re hoping to do the same to them, reverse roles this weekend.”

The T-Birds finished the Canada West regular season second in kills per set, but where they really shine is in serve-receive and in transition, sitting atop the conference in digs per set and a close second in assists per set as well. Coach Hawkins credits those marks to third-year setter Mason Greves and third-year libero Logan Greves, who may be twins but have each shone individually while assuming greater leadership roles this season.

“Our transition offence is probably the best its been in my time at UBC, it’s just really efficient,” commented Hawkins. “We want to be an aggressive serving team, but defence is our strength. To have the first and third ranked diggers in the league, who just happen to be twins, just goes to show that we have a lot of quality on that side of the ball. That’s why we’re really focused on our block defence going into the playoffs. If we can be stable blocking, then overall defence becomes significantly easier.”
 

Another player whose serve-receive and passing has improved by leaps and bounds over the course of the year, on top of his emergence as a top offensive weapon, is outside hitter Gavin Moes. The second-year Lethbridge College transfer is coming off of his second Canada West Player of the Week award after posting 42 kills over the series against Brandon and finished ninth in the conference in hitting percentage and 11^th in kills per set.

“Gavin’s character, his personality alone has made us better,” praised Hawkins. “You just don’t find a receiving, 6’7 left side who can also serve and score, he really is a complete player. I think for him a good chunk of the first semester he was adjusting to the speed and the physicality of the league. The second semester he’s been nothing short of spectacular.”
 

The Saskatchewan Huskies come to town having played a tremendous amount of volleyball of late, going to five sets in four of their last five matches, including one against UBC. The T-Birds and Huskies split a series in Saskatchewan just two weeks ago, with the blue and gold falling in five sets on the Friday and bouncing back with a four set win on Saturday. The Huskies also profile as a defence-first team, tying the ‘Birds for the conference lead in total digs and sitting atop the conference in solo blocks by a significant margin.

The two teams are meeting to begin the playoffs for a third consecutive year. Saskatchewan came out on top in a five-set battle at a neutral site in Edmonton two years ago to begin that year’s double-elimination playoff tournament. Last year, in the same best-of-three series format as we have this season, the Huskies eliminated the T-Birds in the quarter-finals. UBC won the first match 3-0 in the Huskies’ gym, but Saskatchewan rebounded to win both Saturday and Sunday’s matches 3-2.

“We’re ready to get a little redemption,” mused Hawkins, cracking a wry smile. “They’re a good team, these are fun matchups. I think that’s part of the reason that we have had really good matches with them is that these are two exciting volleyball teams. Our rosters kind of mirror each other, we’re both young and graduated some big hitters last year. It’s going to be interesting and I’m grateful that we’re doing it at home this time.”
 

Should the T-Birds defeat the Huskies, they would be guaranteed to play at least two more rounds of playoffs. A best-of-three semifinal, likely to be on the road, would be up next. Winning that semifinal would put the team in the Canada West Gold Medal Game, a single match to be played on Friday, March 8, and give them an automatic berth in the U SPORTS National Championships. A semifinal loss would put the ‘Birds in the Bronze Medal Game on March 8, with the bronze winner also going to nationals. The U Sports Championships are being hosted by Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, March 14-17.

Tickets to this weekend’s matches are still available here. Stream all Canada West playoff volleyball action live or on demand on Canada West TV.