The second-ranked Brandon University women’s volleyball team was upset by the unranked UBC Okanagan Heat to open the Canada West playoffs on Thursday night at the Healthy Living Centre.
Shanlee McLennan had six kills for the Lady ‘Cats, who fell in straight sets and trail the best-of-three series one match to none.
Set scores were 25-19, 25-20 and 25-12.
"They served the crap out of the ball and they put us in pressure right from the start and kind of caught us off guard. We just had a hard time adjusting to it and battling back," coach Lee Carter told CKLQ’s Tyler Crayston. "Some of the problem is you want to win so badly and then when things aren’t going your way you get so frustrated. It’s really hard to play volleyball when you’re frustrated."
"We’ve had a lot of games where we come out and blew it the first day and we came out the second day and picked it up. We’re going to need to channel that," said McLennan. "If we do this again we’re going to be screwed. We need to play harder and play with more heart."
Victoria Dakin and Alexis Loewen added five kills each for Brandon, who will try to stave off elimination on Friday night.
First serve at the Healthy Living Centre is 7 p.m.