T-Birds open 2023 with home court battle against Huskies

VANCOUVER – After a six week mid-season break, the UBC Thunderbirds are back in Canada West action this weekend when they host the Saskatchewan Huskies Friday and Saturday, January 6 and 7 at War Memorial Gym.

As the calendar flips to 2023, the excitement continues to build for the ‘Birds (10-2) as in just two and a half months their home court will be the focal point of the country when UBC hosts the U SPORTS National Championship tournament.

“Turning the page into 2023, you can definitely start to count down the weekends, it’s going to be an exciting second term,” said UBC head coach, Doug Reimer who has kept his team sharp by battling a number of other U SPORTS teams in scrimmages over the last couple weeks. “We’ve been fortunate to have the chance to see a number of teams in this break to kind of get our second pre-season. We’ve been able to scrimmage with two groups simultaneously and get a lot of people game play and just a chance to see different hitters and try some different things.”

Far before the team can fully focus on securing their first championship title since 2019, the ‘Birds still have half of the regular season to contend with, starting with the Huskies (6-6) who went 4-2 in the final three weeks of 2022, currently just outside the Canada West playoff picture.

The only blemish on the T-Birds’ record this season is courtesy of a weekend sweep by first place Trinity Western at the end of November. But aside from those six lost sets to the Spartans, the ‘Birds have dropped just two others total in what’s been a highly impressive – and efficient – first half.

UBC enters the New Year third in conference hitting percentage (.250) and first in points-per-set (17.43), kills-per-set (12.83), and service aces-per-set (2.60). But perhaps even more importantly, the T-Birds defensive game has been equally as stellar, limiting their opponents to a conference low hitting percentage of just .127.

“Our ability to make adjustments to a team we haven’t seen much of, especially on the blocking front has been impressive,” added Reimer. “We’re trying to build an identity team-wise based on our ability to put on pressure, starting from the service line. That, in turn, helps make your blocking and team defence better.”

UBC and Saskatchewan last faced each other back on September 23, a four-set T-Birds pre-season victory. But Friday night will mark the first Canada West league play showdown between the two since October 2019 and the first meeting in Vancouver since November 2018.

Key to success for either side will be ramping up to game readiness after such a long layoff from conference play.

First serve Friday, January 6 is set for 6:00 p.m. PT at War Memorial with Saturday’s rematch beginning at 5:00 p.m. Tickets for both nights are available now and both will be streamed live on Canada West TV.