The drive for five begins in Hamilton this weekend for the UBC Thunderbirds.
Despite falling to the Alberta Pandas in the Canada West conference final Saturday night at War Memorial gym at UBC, the T-Birds clinched a berth in the national championship this weekend in Hamilton, where they will hope to win their fifth consecutive Canadian championship.
Led by fifth-year left-side hitter Kyla Richey from Roberts Creek, the T-Birds beat the Trinity Western Spartans 3-0 (25-17, 25-12, 25-20) in the Canada West semifinal on Friday night, Feb. 24.
MVP Richey led the way in kills with 12 on .409 hitting, adding two aces and a pair of blocks.
That set up the conference championship game Saturday against the Pandas who beat Winnipeg in Friday's second semifinal.
UBC won the opening set, but Alberta came back to win the next two to take control of the match. UBC battled back to win set four, but fell in the fifth set to lose the conference title in front of their home fans.
Richey had a more difficult night. She led the 'Birds with 10 kills, but the Pandas were keying in on her all night, and she wound up with a negative hitting percentage for the match. She still made big contributions to the 'Birds defensively and wound up with three blocks and 11 digs.
UBC, Alberta and Trinity Western, who beat Winnipeg in the bronze medal game, are all off to nationals.
Before the weekend started, Richey was voted the Canada West women's volleyball MVP.
During the regular season, she averaged 3.54 kills per set, the best in Canada West, and led the conference in points per set (4.42). The 2009 CIS Championship MVP also placed seventh in service aces per game, 18th in blocks per set and 23rd in digs per set. Her play has been recognized throughout the season, culminating in her Canada West and CIS Female Athlete of the Week awards during the week of Jan. 23.
Richey is a member of Canada's National Team and will be with the squad in late April as they try to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London.
"Kyla has developed not only as a great attacker, but she has also helped us score points from the service line and as a blocker," said UBC head coach Doug Reimer. "The development of her all-round play, front and back court, has been rewarding to see and a testament to her work with our team and national team training."
