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With a large, intense and raucous crowd behind them, the UBC Okanagan Heat still couldn’t stop the Trinity Western Spartans from winning their second straight Canada West women’s volleyball title on Saturday.
But while the host Heat came up short in their bid for a first conference championship, falling 3-2 (25-19, 18-25, 25-18, 23-25, 15-10), their ultimate season goal remains attainable.
By reaching Saturday’s conference final on the strength of a 3-1 semifinal victory over the UBC Thunderbirds on Friday, the Heat will join the Spartans and the T-Birds (3-0 winners over the Alberta Pandas in the bronze-medal match) at the CIS national championship tournament in Brandon March 11-13.
“We talked in the pre-season about what we wanted to accomplish, and going to nationals and being on the podium was one of our main goals,” said fifth-year outside hitter, Brianna Beamish, after the match of Canada West heavyweights. “We want to win nationals. That’s our goal, and we’re gonna do everything that we can to win next weekend.”
The veteran Heat group agreed that playing in front of standing-room-only crowds of about 1,500 both nights would stand them in good stead for CIS nationals.
“I think it was a good experience for us to play in front a (large) crowd like this,” said Beamish, who finished with seven kills and nine digs in her final match on home court. “This is what it’s going to be like in Brandon, so now we have a good idea of what is ahead of us.”
Teammate, Michelle Jakszuk, added:
“Having Final Four here was tons of fun — there was definitely a lot of excitement. We’ve had support from the fans, people at the school, the faculty, and they really made it all happen for us,” she said. “It was a great atmosphere, I’m so glad we had the opportunity to host.”
Jakszuk conceded the full house at “The Furnace” did have repercussions for her team.
“As much as people won’t admit it, it did have an effect. You might have seen some of us taking deep breaths on the court, trying to calm ourselves down, but it’s really kind of hard to compete with all the other things happening in the gym.”
First-year Heat, Katinka Krahn, also spoke about the opportunity to play in a Final Four at home.
“The atmosphere is indescribable. It’s just so amazing — the support we received from our fans, and the team. Just knowing that we can do this is just the greatest thing I’ve experienced in volleyball so far.”
The two teams responded to the support in the stands with an entertaining gold-medal match that saw them trade two wins apiece in the first four sets and settle it in a fifth.
The closing set saw Trinity take an 8-6 lead into the technical timeout and then withstand a Heat push by taking four consecutive points for what would turn out to be a comfortable 13-8 lead en route to the banner repeat.
"I'm a very proud coach this evening. I thought the team showed a lot of composure, a lot of grit and a lot of fight,” said TWU head coach, Ryan Hofer. “They rose to the occasion and played some very, very good volleyball. "UBCO did a great job of hosting and had a great crowd which produced a great hometown environment to play in. Our players managed the pressure of the game and the environment very well. We were still playing free."
Canada West all-star, Elizabeth Wendel, led the Spartans attack with 20 kills, while Sophie Carpentier finished with 15 kills. The Heat’s Katie Wuttunee, also a Canada West first-team all-star and UBCO’s player of the match, had nine kills, four aces and five blocks, while Megan Festival and Jakszuk, with eight kills each, led the Heat attack.
TWU all-star setter Nick Cornwall tallied 46 set assists to go with nine digs and four blocks, while UBCO's Chandler Proch ran the Heat offence, finishing with 22 set assists.
Trinity Western took the first set 25-19, with the Spartans starting strong in the set and jumping out to a 4-1 lead. The Heat tied the match up at 8-8, then 9-9, and took a 16-15 lead into the technical time-out. The Spartans made full use of their power attack late in the set, with Wendel and Carpentier combining for four kills in the final six TWU points of TWU's 10-3 run.
In the second set, Trinity Western started strong again, taking a quick 5-1 lead, but the Heat once again tied it up at 8-8, and building on a strong service run from Wuttunee, took 12-8. Heat coach, Steve Manuel, was given a yellow card for arguing the call in favour of Trinity Western that broke the Heat run.
The Heat won back serve, at 13-10, on a nearly minute-long rally that featured huge swings, diving digs, and blocks from both teams. At the technical time-out, UBC Okanagan had a 16-12 lead. The Heat held on to the lead through the end of the set, with Siobhan Fitzpatrick (Immaculata High School) coming into the match and serving the final four points, including one ace.
Trinity Western won a back-and-forth third set, while the Heat fought back to take the fourth, despite falling behind 13-6 and 21-17.
The Heat, as they have many times during their 23-3 season, rallied again in the late stages to pull within a point (21-20) and force a Trinity timeout.
The teams traded points, until the Heat took their first lead of the set at 24-23, and then won the set when Spartan hitter Mariel Garcia put an attack out the back of the court.
“In the fourth set I looked at Katie (Wuttunee), when we were down,” said Beamish, who along with 2016 gradates, Wuttunee, Proch, Katelyn DeJong, Kailin Jones and Katy Klomps, were playing in their final match on home court. “And I was like ‘these are not going to be our last four points in this gym. We are gonna keep going.’ So that was just kind of our mentality.”
The Heat, in only their fifth year in the CIS, will be making their first appearance at the national championship and will likely go in as the No. 2 seed.
Meanwhile, Trinity will be going to nationals for a fifth straight year and will be making their ninth appearance in the past 11 years.
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