Heat hit over .300 in all three sets to complete the road sweep of the Regina Cougars with a second straight set victory.
Image Credit: UBCO
November 27, 2016 - 12:06 PM
REGINA, Sask. – The No. 5 UBC Okanagan hit .337 as a team and the Heat won their second three-set match in as many nights over the Regina Cougars on Saturday at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.
The Heat won by scores of 25-23, 25-18, and 25-22 as they improve their Canada West record to 7-1 on the season.
Siobhan Fitzpatrick didn’t play on Friday, but got the start for UBC Okanagan on Saturday and led all players with 14 kills while also tying for the team lead with nine digs. Kaitlynn Given had 10 kills and hit .643 for the Heat, while Aidan Lea came off the bench to collect eight kills and a .583 hitting percentage. Michelle Jakszuk added eight kills and nine digs. Emily Oxland and Sara McCreary shared the setting duties for the Heat, with Oxland finishing with 26 assists and McCreary dishing out eight.
Freshman UBC Okanagan middle Brooklyn Reynolds earned the start on Saturday night, her first of her young career. The 6'3" Regina product graduated from Miller Composite High School which is led then a five minute drive from the CKHS highlighted the match with a block to end the first set. Reynolds also tallied her first career kill in the first set.
Ashlee Sandiford led the Cougars with eight kills and also helped out defensively with eight digs, while Leah Sywanyk got the start and had five kills and no errors for a team-leading .333 hitting percentage. Molly Wade-Cummings had seven kills and four blocks, while libero Taylor Ungar led all players with 12 digs. Rookie setter Kirstin Greve finished with 26 assists for the U of R.
After opening up Friday’s match with convincing wins in the opening two sets, it looked as though Saturday would follow the same script for UBC Okanagan as the Heat scored the first seven points of the first set and led by as many as 10 points after going up 12-2. But the Cougars battled back, going on a 10-3 run of their own to force a Heat timeout. They kept it close and four straight U of R points brought it level at 22-22 and the Cougars again tied it up at 23-23, but UBC Okanagan went ahead on a Regina service error and clinched the first set with a block by Given and Reynolds.
The second saw the teams trade leads midway through the set, but Erin Drew came in as a serving sub and the Heat broke an 18-18 tie with seven straight points, five of which came off Fitzpatrick kills.
In the third, the two teams were within two points for almost the entirety of the set with the exception of a four-point lead for UBC Okanagan around the media timeout. The Cougars fought back with five straight points to take the lead, but fell behind after a quick 4-1 run that forced a timeout by head coach Shane Smith. Consecutive kills by Kathleen Bruce and Sandiford brought the score even for the 11th time in the set at 22-22, but that’s when Jakszuk went to work for the Heat. She registered back-to-back-to-back kills, giving UBC Okanagan a 25-22 match-clinching win.
The Cougars out-served the Heat on the night nine aces to seven, the Cougars Leah Sywanyk finished with five kills. UBC Okanagan's Emily Oxland led her squad with two aces adding to her Canada West record, she now has 142 aces in her career.
The Cougars are back in action next weekend at Alberta, while UBC Okanagan will host Calgary as both teams close out the first half of the Canada West schedule.
First serve versus Calgary at UBC Okanagan is at 6 p.m. on Friday, December 2. The last match for UBCO of 2016 will begin on Saturday (Dec. 3) at 5 p.m.
~ Braden Konschuh, Regina Cougars
News from © iNFOnews, 2016