On the road to open their Canada West women’s volleyball season, the UBC Okanagan Heat will once again attempt to be one of the final teams standing when the dust settles after a 24-match schedule.
Steve Manuel, in his 18th season as the program’s head coach will look to guide his squad to its eighth straight postseason berth in Canada West.
The first weekend on the 2018-19 conference docket has the Heat in Edmonton with matches against MacEwan (Oct. 19 and 20), this is one of three road trips in the first semester for UBCO, with stops also in Winnipeg (Nov. 2 and 3) and Saskatoon (Nov. 30 and Dec. 1).
The home opener will set the tone early for the Heat as they face off against another perennial contender and B.C. rival in the Trinity Western Spartans. The always hard-fought matches shake the Furnace on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 26 and 27.
Four other home dates highlight November, first UBCO will play host to Mount Royal (Nov. 16 and 17) and then Brandon (Nov. 23 and 24) on back-to-back weekends.
For the complete Heat women’s schedule go to goheat.ca
Championships:
The 13-team league will qualify the eight top teams intro a playoff schedule that runs over three weekends of play.
A Canada West champion will be crowned either March 8 or 9 in a single match at the highest remaining seed’s home court.
The U SPORTS national championship is in the west this year with the three-day eight-team tournament hosted by the University of Alberta, March 14 to 17.
Heat men’s schedule
The Heat men’s volleyball team will have a different look to their schedule for the 2018-19 Canada West conference season with an extra bye weekend, following the loss of a school from the conference schedule.
Starting on the road (Oct. 19 and 20) in Edmonton at MacEwan University UBC Okanagan will hope to continue their winning ways against the Griffins and start their season off strong. Historically the Heat (7-1) perform well against their Edmonton foes.
The home opener for UBCO will be the following weekend (Oct. 26 and 27) when they host the Canada West champion and national silver medallists, Trinity Western Spartans. Following the tough home opening weekend a trip to Winnipeg to play the Wesmen at the beginning of November is scheduled before a bye week that spans the term one Remembrance Day break (Nov. 10 and 11).
The last half of November has a pair of home dates with UBCO hosting the Mount Royal Cougars (Nov. 16 and 17) and then the Brandon Bobcats (Nov. 23 and 24) all before closing out the semester break with a trip to Saskatoon and two matches against the Huskies (Nov. 30 and Dec. 1).
Championships:
A one-division league, Canada West men’s volleyball playoffs see the top eight teams qualify for the three-week postseason schedule to determine a conference champion. The test to rule Canada West runs from Feb. 21 through March 9.
The U SPORTS national championship will be a three-day eight-team tournament hosted by Laval March 14 to 17
For the complete Heat men’s schedule go to goheat.ca