Steve Manuel and UBC Okanagan women’s volleyball squad will be looking for their first wins of 2014 when the University of Alberta Pandas (8-8) pay a visit to Kelowna this weekend.
The teams square off in Canada West action Friday and Saturday nights at the UBCO campus gym.
The Heat (10-6) are tied for fourth in the conference, while Alberta (8-8) is sixth.
The Heat, who won 10 of 12 matches in the first semester, have lost their first four games of 2014—two to the No. 1-ranked UBC Thunderbirds and two more last weekend in Langley against the Trinity Western Spartans.
On Friday, the Spartans prevailed 3-0 (25-9, 25-18, 25-23).
On Saturday, it was more of the same as TWU rolled over UBCO 3-0 (25-20, 25-13, 25-23.)
“We knew the start of our second semester would not be easy—that’s Canada West volleyball,” said Heat coach Steve Manuel, who saw his club get outplayed at the net on Saturday night.
“We never really got good clean contacts. We were always on the run, and we made poor decisions because of it.”
Matches vs Alberta go at 6 p.m. Friday and 5 p.m. Saturday.
Heat men
The UBCO men pushed Trinity Western to five sets Friday but came up short 3-2 (25-15, 22-25, 19-25, 25-17, 15-9).
Nate Speijer led the Heat attack with 14 kills, while Alex Swiatlowski, Lars Bornemann and Jim Bell had eight kills each and a combined 23 digs.
On Saturday, the Spartans were more efficient in taking down the Heat in three sets (25-23, 25-20, 25-21).
“We weren’t as efficient in the middle as we usually are,” said Heat head coach Greg Poitras. “We had a tough time defending their middles.”
Speijer and Kyle Pankratz combined for 26 kills for UBC Okanagan.
This weekend, the Heat (4-12) will host the No. 3-ranked Alberta Golden Bears (11-5).
The teams meet at UBCO at 7 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Saturday.
