KELOWNA, B.C. – In a show of the volleyball they are capable, the UBC Okanagan men's squad took their first set of the season on Saturday night in what would eventually be a victory for the visiting No. 3 Trinity Western Spartans who proceeded to grab the next three and leave Kelowna with a sweep after four sets (22-25, 25-18, 25-20, 25-22).
The previous night TWU won in straight sets, but on Saturday the Heat came out swinging hard and efficient in the first set, eventually running to a 25-22 set win to secure their first set win of the season.
Heat coach Greg Poitras is a numbers guy, and one stat line I particular made it evident to them what the difference was in the first set that gave the Heat that edge: hitting efficiency.
The Okanagan squad (.314) was more efficient than the Spartans (.278) in the first set before recovering in dominating fashion for the remainder of the game.
"We scored better, our numbers were better, our efficiency was higher," Poitras said postgame. Overall hitting percentage was up more than a point from Friday night's Trinity sweep .103-.215. "Against [Trinity], that's not a bad number for us," Poitras added.
Following the first, the second and third sets were highly inefficient for the Heat. Trying to get back to their first set groove, the Heat came close to forcing a fifth as they were hot on the heels of Trinity, who would ultimately escape with a 25-22 set, match, and weekend victory.
Once again Trinity's Ryan Sclater (3rd year, Port Coquitlam, BC) was the leading hot hand for the Spartans as he tallied 17 kills on 41 attempts, chipping in 15 digs and securing one service ace.
Spartan middle blocker Daniel Grant (5th year, Chetwynd, BC) continued to adamantly challenge the Heat attack all night, as he would up with a game-high 2.5 blocks while putting in 10 kills worth of effort on the other end as well.
Third-year middle Jim Bell (Surrey, BC) rang in a team-high 16 kills on an efficient 34 attempts to lead the Heat attack. He also put up two block assists and seven digs in the all-around effort.
Second-year outside hitter Lars Bornemann joined Bell in double-digit kill amounts with 13 himself.
The Heat are now 0-4 to begin the 2014-15 season. The No. 3 Spartans meanwhile improve to 4-0.
Next weekend the Heat are back at home again to host the Manitoba Bisons Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 7 p.m. in the UBC Okanagan gymnasium.
The Spartans head eastward to face off against the No. 1 Alberta Golden Bears for the weekend with a Friday night match set for 9:30 p.m. followed by a 7 p.m. match Saturday.
Watch all the action online and stream live stats at canadawest.tv