TEAM OVERVIEWS
REGINA – The Cougars headed into their bye weekend not knowing for sure if they'd be headed to the postseason for the first time since 2014, but clinched a playoff berth on Friday night thanks to Alberta's win over Brandon, then had their first-round matchup against UBC solidified after the Thunderbirds beat Saskatchewan on Saturday. The Cougars and Manitoba both finished with 12-12 records on the season, but the Bisons claimed sixth place over Regina because of their superior sets won/lost differential. Regina features an extremely young lineup, with three of its usual starters – rookie Jessica Lerminiaux and second-year players Brooklyn Reynolds and Satomi Togawa – in their first two seasons of eligibility. Haley Wagar is in her third year with the Cougars, while Kathleen Ens, Ashlee Sandiford, and Taylor Ungar are fourth-year players. With no fifth-year players on the squad, head coach Melanie Sanford expects to return her entire roster next season.
 
UBC – After UBC's loss to Regina earlier this month (more on that below), the No. 4-ranked Thunderbirds have reeled off five consecutive victories which included a big home-and-home sweep over local rival Trinity Western. UBC's most prolific hitter this season was rookie Kiera Van Ryk, who finished in a three-way tie for the Canada West lead with 352 kills. On the other end of the experience spectrum, fifth-year setter Alessandra Gentile controls the offence for a UBC team that finished third in the conference with a .220 hitting percentage during the regular season. The Thunderbirds finished with a 20-4 record in Canada West play, with their only setbacks coming to UBC Okanagan, Alberta, Brandon, and Regina.

PROJECTED STARTERS

UBC	Regina
#2 Samantha Patko (L • 5-6 • 4th) #3 Kiera Van Ryk (LS • 6-2 • 1st) #4 Gabrielle Attieh (MB • 6-1 • 2nd) #8 Anna Price (LS • 5-9 • 3rd) #9 Ciara Hanly (MB • 6-2 • 4th) #12 Olivia Furlan (RS • 5-11 • 2nd) #17 Alessandra Gentile (S • 5-10 • 5th)	#1 Ashlee Sandiford (LS • 5-9 • 4th) #5 Satomi Togawa (S • 5-6 • 2nd) #8 Kathleen Ens (MB • 5-9 • 4th) #10 Brooklyn Reynolds (MB • 6-3 • 2nd) #11 Haley Wagar (RS • 5-11 • 3rd) #12 Jessica Lerminiaux (LS • 6-2 • 1st) #13 Taylor Ungar (L • 5-6 • 4th)

ROAD TO NATIONALS
With Canada West sending four teams to the U SPORTS Championship next month at Laval, the winners of all four conference quarterfinal series will earn an automatic trip east to compete for a national title. Besides Regina/UBC, the other quarterfinals include Calgary against Mount Royal in the 1/8 series, UBC Okanagan against Manitoba in the 3/6 series, and Alberta against Trinity Western in the 4/5 series. The winner of the Regina/UBC series will play either UBC Okanagan or Manitoba in the conference semifinals next weekend.

THIS YEAR
One of the more dramatic matches in the history of the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport happened between these two teams just last month. It was all UBC to start after the Thunderbirds won the first set 25-11 and added a 29-27 win in the second, and though UBC had match point in the third set the Cougars battled back. They pulled out a 26-24 win in the third, won 25-19 in the fourth, then got a late Leah Sywanyk kill to finish off UBC with a 15-13 win in the deciding set. The Thunderbirds, who were ranked No. 3 in the nation at the time, picked up the weekend split the following night after a four-set victory over Regina.

POSTSEASON HISTORY
The Cougars have never won against UBC in the postseason, but the two teams have only met four times in the playoffs. The Thunderbirds took two straight matches over Regina in a best-of-three conference quarterfinal series in 2005 and also had wins over the Cougars in 2010 (Canada West semifinal) and 2014 (CIS Championship quarterfinal).

COUGARS IN THE PLAYOFFS
We'll have to concede a very slight edge to UBC in terms of postseason experience on the roster. The Thunderbirds won their 11^th U SPORTS championship last year and have qualified for the national tournament in each of the past 10 seasons, while no Cougar player on the current roster has appeared in a playoff game. The last time the U of R qualified for the postseason was 2014, and the two longest-serving Cougars (Ashlee Sandiford and Taylor Ungar) joined the program that next fall.