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UBCO Heat women's volleyball team have repeated as national champions following a gold medal performance over the weekend.
Contributed
MVP Alex Basso led her UBC Okanagan Heat to their second straight national championship after knocking off the F-X Garneau Élans in straight sets in the tournament final of the 2010 CCAA national championship.
The Heat were impressive from the opening point and put on a show that will not be forgotten for quite some time. Setter Caitlin Nyhus of Penticton delivered the goods and her hitters responded, peppering the FX Garneau defence with powerful attacks, while MVP Basso was good for 12 kills.
Basso’s teammate Leigh Dreher added 11 kills and Sara Zaytsoff collected 12 points of her own to go along with four blocks and eight kills, including a kill on the championship point. Kirsten Lawson had six kills and two blocks for points, Summerland’s Kaylan Gouldsborough chipped in with five kills and rookie sensation Lenai Schmidt was spectacular on defence and was the only libero selected to the all-star teams.
“FX Garneau is a great team and they played great tonight,” said UBC O’s head coach Steve Manuel. “They pushed us from the first serve and never quit but our crew played like true champions tonight and would not be denied this title.”
It was a back and forth battle to open the final but FX Garneau pulled ahead midway through the set. With the Heat were down 14-18 in the first set, Dreher went back to the service line and ran off four straight serves to tie the set before Alycia Bradstock entered the match at 19-19 and served for five straight points.
UBC Okanagan came up with a couple of big plays that turned the tide for the rest of the match as they went on an 11-3 run to take the first set 25-21. The Heat jumped out to a couple of quick leads in the second set and never looked back from there, winning 25-19 and convincingly in the third set 25-12.
“Our passing and defence was stellar which allowed us to run an almost unstoppable offence, add in some clutch serving and that was the recipe for success. I could not be prouder of the 12 athletes and my coaching staff of Karl Enns, Becki Kosinski and Jackie Wong for buying into what we had planned for the season and believing every step of the way that we would repeat as national champions,” said Manuel.
Tournament all-stars:
- MVP: Outside hitter Alex Basso (UBC Okanagan)
- First team : Catherine Laurin (FX Garneau), Eve Thibault (FX Garneau), Caitlin Nyhus (UBC Okanagan), Leigh Dreher (UBC Okanagan), Katie Graves (Red Deer College), Kaylene Ehret (MacEwan).
- Second team: Audrey Poulin-Beaulieu (FX Garneau), Lenai Schmidt (UBC Okanagan), Quin Schulzke (Red Deer College), Jessica Clutton (Red Deer College), Lindsay McLoughlin (Vancouver Island University), Landis Doyle (Humber College)
Fun facts from the championship:
- The Heat graduated three starters from the 2008-09 championship team including national championship MVP Sheila McNee and national championship all stars Kailey Buller and Erin Kolmatycki.
- This season the Heat went undefeated in league play at 16-0, 2-0 at the BCCCAA Championship and 3-0 and the CCAA National Championship.
- The team had an incredible win-loss record in sets as well, failing to lose a match all season. They went 63 -3 and did not lose a single set after January 15.
- The last time the Heat lost a match was on Jan 17, 2009, 32 matches ago.
- The Heat won the maximum amount of individual athlete awards: Alex Basso – BCCAA Player of the Year, CCAA Player of the Year, CCAA All Canadian, BCCAA First Team All Star, Provincial and National Championships MVP. Leigh Dreher – BCCAA First Team All Star, CCAA All Canadian, CCAA National Championship First Team All Star. Caitlin Nyhus – BCCAA First Team All Star, BCCAA Provincial and CCAA National Championship First Team All Star. Sara Zaytsoff – BCCAA Second Team All Star. Jill Festival – BCCAA Rookie of the Year, BCCAA All Star Rookie Team. Lenai Schmidt – BCCAA All Star Rookie Team, CCAA Championship Second Team All Star.
Tags: CAA championship final, François-Xavier Garneau, gold medal, heat, UBC Okanagan, women’s volleyball team
