loading...
By Pieter Uni
After being swept out of gold medal contention by Limoliou in Friday’s semi-final, the UBC Okanagan Heat men’s volleyball team could have easily packed it in and called it a season.
But the third ranked team in Canada lived up to their reputation by capturing the bronze medal at the CCAA national championship Saturday night by knocking off the Humber College Hawks in straight sets.
“We wanted to finish off the season with a solid effort, it didn’t matter who we played,” said Heat head coach Greg Poitras after the bronze medal win. “We were ranked third in the country all year so it was fitting to finish with a bronze.”
The Heat, who knocked off Humber 25-22, 25-21, 25-18, dominated the Hawks for the second time in the tournament after opening the tournament with a five-set win over the Ontario college.
UBC O’s setter Preston Tucker opened the bronze medal match with two aces, before adding two more later in the first set, forcing the Hawks to call a timeout. The break in play seemed to help Humber, as the two teams battled for every point as the point differential never exceeded three. Fortunately for the Heat, the team was able to hold on for a hard earned 25-22 first set win, foiling Humber’s numerous comeback attempts.
The second game saw UBC O big men Chris Howe and Mark Broome record a number of impressive blocks against the heavy hitting Humber team to pace the Heat to a 25-21 second set win. The key blocks were the key in securing the win according to Poitras.
“We watched our video from the first game against them and looked at things to improve and we saw that the right side player was hitting around our blocks,” said Poitras. “This time we put some more hands in front of him and it worked out well.”
UBC O jumped out to an early lead in the third set, forcing Humber to make critical mistakes that allowed the Heat to capture the third set 25-18 and the bronze medal.
Nate Speijer of the UBC O Heat was named player of the game after recording 17 kills, four blocks, three digs and one serving ace. In the championship game, Limoliou beat SAIT three sets to one.
While Poitras and the Heat were disappointed not to be in the final, the coach said they will use the bronze medal win to continue to build the Heat volleyball program.
“Our teams get better and better every season and it is because of our success that we are able to attract the best players to our program,” he said. “This win will give the returning players the desire to improve . . . we won’t want to settle for bronze next year.”
sports@kelowna.com
250-863-8049
Tags: CCAA national championship, Humber College Hawks, men's volleyball team, ubc okanagan heat
