Heat women sweep Manitoba, bound for nationals

In their final home game of the season, the Heat women’s volleyball team did not disappoint as they won in four sets against the Manitoba Bisons to advance to the Canada West semifinals.

A tense and exciting match with a jampacked UBC Okanagan gym on Saturday in Kelowna followed another 3-1 win on Friday in the first of a best-of-three series.

Saturday’s win also earned the Heat a spot in the U SPORTS National Championship, which starts March 16 in Laval, Que.

After the teams split the opening two sets, the Heat took control of the match in the third with a comfortable 25-16 victory. With nationals in their sights, UBCO pulled away in the final set to prevail 25-20 and punch its ticket.

This is the fifth straight season that the UBCO women’s volleyball team has advanced past the first round in the Canada West postseason. Normally, they would go on to the Final Four, but with the new playoff format this year, the Heat will travel to Vancouver to play the defending U SPORTS national champion UBC Thunderbirds in the CW semifinals this weekend (March 2-4).

UBCO beat Manitoba 25-19, 16-25, 25-16, 25-20 on Saturday after taking the opening match with scores of 22-25, 26-24, 25-21, 25-21.

Fourth-year outside hitter Siobhan Fitzpatrick led the way for the Heat on Saturday, finishing with a game-high 15 kills to go along with 12 digs for a double-double.

Michelle Jakszuk finished just shy of a double-double, as she tallied nine kills and a game-high 16 digs.

Both Aidan Lea and Ann Richards also finished in double figures, with 10 kills each.

The Heat held the advantage in all of the key categories, including kills (50-48), hitting percentage (.229-.161), digs (63-62), total blocks (11-5) and service aces (9-4).