Cougars defeat Heat in three straight; move one step closer to playoffs

Tia Sadler, UBC Okanagan Heat Sports Information

KELOWNA, B.C - The UBC Okanagan men's volleyball team fell in game one of  the weekend series against the Mount Royal Cougars with a loss in three sets (20-25, 24-26, 25-22) this Friday night in Kelowna.

The Cougars playing for a spot in the post season for the first time in Canada West see their record improve to (12-11) and now have the same number of wins as UBC, whose game versus Trinity was still in progress at the time of writing. Both teams are vying for the seventh and final playoff spot in Canada West. The loss drops the Heat's record to (4-19).

Although Mount Royal was able to win the game in three straight sets, the Heat were able to out attack the Cougars with a total of of 43 kills.

The Heat had three players in double digits in kills. Junior, Lars Bornemann earning 15 kills (.178), Kyle Pankratz earning 11 kills (.179) and Devon Cote earning 10 kills (.389). The Cougars Tyler Schmidt led his teams in attacks (35), scoring 12 kills (.200) and Jordan Parkin followed earning 10 kills (.318)  0f the Cougars 40 kills.

Heat setter Ethan Freund led the match in assists with 37 of the Heats 41. Cougars setter, Tanner Greves followed in assists with 31 of the Cougars 35.

The first set of the night the Cougars earned a win by scoring in consecutive streaks. The Cougars, quick out of the gate were able to quickly take a 5-1 advantage over the Kelowna squad. The Heat were able to take small bites at the Cougars quick lead but a (6-1) scoring streak after a Mount Royal timeout put away the win for the Cougars after  service ace by Lucas King closed the set off (25-20).

The second set neither team would go up by more than two points and not surprisingly the set ended (26-24) after a service error by UBCO and a kill by Jordan Parkin finished the set 26-24.

The third set, was one of the strongest on the night for the Cougars, as they never played from behind. There were ties in the set, at 7-7 and 14-14, but the Cougars were able to take advantage of the Heat's errors and finished the set and match off with a service ace by Lachlan Polson.

The Heat will go head to head with the Cougars again tomorrow night in the final game of their 2015-16 season, game time is at 7 p.m. Tomorrow night is also seniors night and will be recognizing three graduating players. The three men graduating from UBC Okanagan are: Jeremy Fostvelt (Surrey, BC), Kyle Pankratz (Surrey, BC), and Leo Schober (Kelowna, BC).

The Cougars have five fifth year players: Grigor Kartev, Lucas King, Andrew McWilliam, Jordan Parkin, and Mike Wickstrom.