The University of Regina's women's volleyball team jumps right back into the Canada West schedule this weekend with a pair of home games against the No. 1-ranked UBC Thunderbirds on Friday and Saturday night at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

The Cougars enter the second half of the conference schedule ranked No. 4 in the CIS and tied for fourth in the Canada West standings with an impressive 6-2 record. The team is off to its best start since the 2004-05 season, when the Cougars also won six of their first eight matches of the schedule.

Fifth-year middle Beth Clark continues to lead the Cougars statistically. She ranks second in the conference in hitting percentage (.391) and points per set (4.22) and is fourth in Canada West in average kills per set (3.44). Third-year setter Tiffany Herman is fifth in the conference with an average of 9.23 assists per set.

The Cougars were in action last week at the non-conference Pandas Invitational in Edmonton. Regina won 3-1 decisions over both Laval and Brandon, but lost in three sets to host Alberta to end up in second place at the four-team tournament.

The Thunderbirds, who have won two consecutive national championships, come into the weekend having won all nine of their matches this season. UBC has lost just two sets all year long, both of which came in a 3-2 win at Trinity Western back on Oct. 31. UBC leads Canada West in hitting percentage (.292) and blocks per set (2.53) and has also held its opposition to a league-low .081.

Three UBC players rank in the top four in the conference in hitting percentage, led by fourth-year middle Jen Hinze (.402). Kyla Richey (.352) and Liz Cordonier (.325) also rank among Canada West's leaders in the category, while Hinze leads the league with an average of 1.21 blocks per set.

The teams will meet on Friday night at 6 p.m. at the CKHS and again on Saturday night at 8 p.m. following the men's match. Both matches will be broadcast live at reginacougars.com.

NOTES: Clark needs seven kills to hit 100 for the season and eight to join former outside hitter Tammy Jule as the only two U of R players to collect 800 career kills since the introduction of the rally point.