Canadian Interuniversity Sport  – BRANDON, Man. (CIS) – The UBC Okanagan Heat made their first-ever match in a CIS Women’s Volleyball Championship a good one. 

Megan Festival, Bianna Beamish and Kaitlynn Given each had nine kills as the third-seeded Heat swept the sixth-seeded Dalhousie Tigers 25-17, 25-10, 25-15 on Friday. 

CHAMPIONSHIP WEBSITE: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wvball/index 

With the win, the Heat earned a semifinal match with the Toronto Varsity Blues on Saturday. 

“I almost have to pinch myself,” said Heat head coach Steve Manuel, who was named the CIS women’s volleyball coach of the year on Thursday. “To be playing in the national semifinal tomorrow is unbelievable for our young program.” 

UBCO committed only nine attack errors all match. They had eight services aces to Dalhousie’s six, keeping the Tigers off-balance for most of the match. 

“It’s no real secret that (serving well is) something that’s important for us.,” Manuel said. “If you look at some of the other Canada West teams that are here, they’re a lot bigger than us. So for us it’s about ball control, it’s about being strategic and we’ve got to keep teams off balance in order for us to be successful.” 

Beamish said the match was more difficult for her team than it looked. 

Dalhousie’s such a good team and they’re so well coached, so we knew it was going to be a battle,” she said. “Although it didn’t necessarily reflect it in the score, for us we were really working hard to score points.” 

Jessica Josenhans had seven kills for the Tigers, while Courtney Baker added six, but the Tigers had more attack errors (24) than kills (23). 

“I thought we hung in there early but just weren’t able to sustain it and lost to a very good team, so congrats to them,” said Tigers head coach Rick Scott. 

The Tigers are frequent competitors at nationals as the four-time defending AUS champions, but Scott said his team also has a lot of youth that can learn from this experience. 

“We’ve got some young players on the floor,” he said. “We start two first years and a second year and a third year, so this is good experience.” 

STAT LEADERS 

Complete Stats: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wvball/2016/championship  

UBC Okanagan 

Kills: Megan Festival, Brianna Beamish, Kaitlynn Given (9) 

Points: Brianna Beamish (12.5), Megan Festival (11) 

Blocks: Katy Klomps (2,7) 

Digs: Kalin Jones (10) 

Service aces: Emily Oxland (4) 

  

Player of the match: Katy Klomps 

  

Dalhousie 

Kills: Jessica Josenhans (7), Courtney Baker (6) 

Points: Jessica Josenhans (8.5), Courtney Baker (7.5) 

Blocks: Jessica Josenhans (0,3) 

Digs: Abby Czenze (5) 

Service aces: Abby Cenze (3) 

  

Player of the match: Courtney Baker 

CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE & RESULTS (CENTRAL TIME) 

Friday, March 11 

12:30 Quarter-final #1: Toronto 3, McGill 2 (18-25, 25-17, 25-27, 25-23, 15-13)  

14:30 Quarter-final #2: UBC Okanagan 3, Dalhousie 0 (25-17, 25-10, 25-15)     

18:00 Quarter-final #3: Brandon vs. Trinity Western (WCGtv / www.CIS-SIC.tv)     

20:00 Quarter-final #4: UBC vs. Montreal (WCGtv / www.CIS-SIC.tv)     

Saturday, March 12 

12:30 Consolation #1: McGill vs. Dalhousie (WCGtv / www.CIS-SIC.tv)     

14:30 Consolation #2: Loser QF #3 vs. Loser QF #4 (WCGtv / www.CIS-SIC.tv)     

18:00 Semifinal #1: Toronto vs. UBC Okanagan (WCGtv / www.CIS-SIC.tv)     

20:00 Semifinal #2: Winner QF #3 vs. Winner QF #4 (WCGtv / www.CIS-SIC.tv)     

Sunday, March 13 

13:00 5th place (WCGtv / www.CIS-SIC.tv)    

15:00 Bronze medal (WCGtv / www.CIS-SIC.tv)     

18:00 Championship final (WCGtv / www.CIS-SIC.tv)     

About Canadian Interuniversity Sport 

Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Every year, over 12,000 student-athletes and 700 coaches from 56 universities and four regional associations vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca or follow us on: 

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For further information, please contact: 

Matt Packwood 

Brandon University 

T: 204-727-7375 

C: 204-570-0842 

E: packwoodm@brandonu.ca 

Michel Bélanger         

Communications & Media Relations 

Canadian Interuniversity Sport 

T: 613-562-5670 ext. 25 

C: 613-447-6334 

E: belanger@universitysport.ca