Showdown for Furlan sisters
Olivia’s T-Birds to face Sophia’s UBC-O Heat ... just don’t tell mom
Sarah Furlan has no desire to see Sister Act 2.
No, not the Whoopi Goldberg movie of the same name. No one wants to watch that.
The Calgary native doesn’t want to see her two daughters duke it out for the second time this season, with Sophia playing for the UBC-O Heat and Olivia for the UBC Thunderbirds.
“My mom’s actually not coming,” Olivia said with a laugh ahead of this week’s impending playoff meeting.
“She says she gets too stressed out watching.”
The two women’s volleyball teams split the October meeting in Kelowna, both winning matches by 3-1 scores.
The Heat (19-5) finished the season ranked third nationally, but UBC (20-4) — ranked fourth — actually finished one game ahead of them in the standings to finish second in Canada West and gain the right to host this weekend’s conference semifinals series.
Game 1 goes Friday at 6 p.m. at War Memorial Gym, as the defending champion T-Birds work toward a 14th conference title and 12th national banner.
Little separates the two teams. The Heat’s loss to Manitoba in their final regular-season game proved the difference, and UBC-O had to settle with thumping the Bisons 2-0 (3-1, 3-1) the next weekend in the opening round of the playoffs.
Both the Heat and Thunderbirds booked their tickets to the USports national championships, which start March 16 in Laval, Que., by virtue of their playoff victories. UBC thumped Regina 3-1 and 3-0 in the first round.
Three years removed from a span that saw the Thunderbirds win six straight national titles, UBC got back on top last season after beating the Alberta Pandas in the USports championship game.
Defending that crown looked to be in doubt when UBC, already missing some key graduates and hit by
some unexpected departures, suffered a rash of injuries, like the ACL tear that felled third-year libero Laura Worsley in November.
“We have quite a small roster — I think we’re only carrying 12 girls, with some that still have injuries,” said Olivia Furlan, a second-year setter out of Calgary.
“So we’re really running low on players, but we really seem to have a grit that we didn’t have last year.
“There were a lot of unexpected things that happened this year. But everyone who can is stepping up. We’re fighting through adversity.”
A big part of the Thunderbirds’ success has been the ability to put the other team off balance with their strong serving game, as they rank fifth in the nation in aces, just eight behind No. 2 Mount Royal and 19 behind leader Trinity Western.
“Successful serving is going to always consider how you’re going to disrupt their offence. That could be velocity, or that might be placement or consistency,” said UBC coach Doug Reimer.
“It’s like tennis — are you going to serve your best, hardest serve, regardless of where it goes, or do you want to serve to that player’s backhand? There is a combination. Part of it is the individual player knowing what they can do. What is their best
serve, and what is their best serve in that situation.”
A big part of that for UBC has been the emergence of Furlan.
The Calgary native was credited for a combined 29.5 points in the sweep of the Cougars, highest on the team, and had seven aces alone in Saturday’s straight-sets win, just one off of the conference playoff record.
Sophia Furlan was recruited by the Heat as a defensive specialist, and has put in four solid seasons as libero for UBC-O.
But, if the situation and tactics demand it, Reimer will have no problem directing Olivia to serve hard at her older sister.
He might be in for a surprise. “My coaches might signal me for to serve at her, and I always try to avoid it because I don’t want her to be mad if I ace her,” said Olivia, laughing.
“It’s not worth it sometimes. It’s just not worth it.”