After a pair of road wins to begin their season, the UBC Thunderbirds make their return to War Memorial Gym on the Friday and Saturday of October 25th and 26th. Their opponent? The Regina Cougars, who are 1-1 after splitting their opening series against Saskatchewan, also on the road.
The T-Birds were strong defensively this past weekend in Winnipeg, holding the Wesmen to a .137 hitting percentage over the two matches combined. Given that the lineup included two new starting middle blockers in Jocelyn Lenarcic and Tianna Kehler, and two new liberos in the returning Olivia Furlan and rookie Daphne Demiryol, that defensive performance was noteworthy.
On the other side of things, though, the T-Birds did struggle a bit offensively. They hit just .148 as a team on the weekend, although they did rack up an impressive 24 aces compared to just 16 service errors. Akash Grewal continues to be a menace from the service line, recording almost as many aces (13) as kills (16) against the Wesmen.
The Thunderbirds are now set for their home opener series, in a place where they’re very comfortable. UBC has a 20-4 record at home in the regular season over the last two years, and also won the 2023 U SPORTS national championship on their home floor.
Their opponents this weekend, the Regina Cougars, are a team that UBC has had success against in recent years. The T-Birds have won each of their last 14 meetings against the Cougars, and 36 of the last 38.
Jordy McEachern is certainly a player to watch for Regina after she put up 28 kills in just six sets of work against the Huskies last weekend. McKenzie Keibel recorded 22 digs in the two-match series, and in fact McEachern and Keibel are #1 in Canada West in kills per set and digs per set, respectively, through the first week of the season.
For the T-Birds, Lucy Borowski was the offensive star in week one, recording a combined 26 kills, 11 digs and eight blocks in UBC’s two wins. She also had just four attack errors, showing a high level of efficiency.
The Thunderbirds are aiming to start the season 4-0 for the third straight year. The home opening matchups are on Friday and Saturday at War Memorial Gym. Both matches begin at 7:00 p.m. (PT).