UBCO – Preview: Canada West Volleyball Begins for UBCO in Regina

What you need to know

On the road to open their conference season, UBCO will play the Regina Cougars in the Queen City this Friday and Saturday night as Canada West volleyball begins.
First-serve is scheduled for 5 p.m. PT on both nights at the U of R.
The Heat will open their home portion of their 24-match women’s schedule next Friday night.

GAME TIMES (PT)

Preseason schedule:

It was a fairly quiet preseason for the women’s squad as they played just four competitive matches in September leading up to the opening weekend.
A trip to Guelph, Ont.for a series of scrimmages, and would also feature two full matches against the University of Guelph, with the squads splitting the two matches.
The only other preseason action took place in Kamloops at the end of September against MacEwan and TRU. The Heat fell in straights sets to MacEwan but swept the WolfPack in three sets to close out their preseason schedule.

Roster breakdown:

This year’s women’s team will feature a mix of returning young talent along with some talented rookies ready to make an impact.
Five first-year players, along with two transfers join the nine returnees off of last year’s squad.

Players to watch:

Outside hitters Sydney Grills and Jade Bussard will be the focal point of the Heat attack this season. Both second-year outside hitter’s are coming off seasons in which they were named to the Canada West All-Rookie Team.
Grills finished last year with 226 kills while Bussard finished with 138 in their respective rookie campaigns.
The two outsides represent more than 80% of the returning offense, following the graduation of Aidan Lea and Ann Richards.

Head to head with the Cougars: (10-6)

Both matches went the way of the Cougs’ last season as they captured both matches in four sets in Kelowna.
This marked the first time Regina beat the Heat since 2013-14.

Scouting Regina

Coming off a successful season:

The Cougars had one of their best seasons in recent memory in 2018-19, they finished the regular season with a 16-8 record which was good enough for the fourth spot in the Canada West standings.
They would fall in the first round of the CW playoffs to the eventual U SPORTS Champion UBC Thunderbirds in two pressure-packed five-set matches.

Preseason recap:

It’s been an extremely busy preseason for Regina. They have played 12 matches through September and October, but have picked up just a lone victory against Lakehead College in that span.
They are coming off back-to-back three-set losses to the Saskatchewan Huskies this past weekend and have picked up just three sets in their last five matches.