The UBC Okanagan Heat are the athletic teams that represent the

University of British Columbia Okanagan The UBC's Okanagan Campus (commonly referred to as UBC Okanagan and UBCO) is University of British Columbia's campus located in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. The campus is the research and innovation hub in the province's southern interior ...

Kelowna Kelowna ( ) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna derives from the Okanagan word ' ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

and currently compete in the

Canada West The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report on the ...

conference of

U Sports U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body of university sport in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country. Its equivalent body for organized sports at colleges in Canada is the ...

. The Heat field varsity teams in basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, and volleyball.

History

The Heat received probationary membership in

in 2010 and had the men's and women's

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

and men's and women's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

teams begin competition there in the 2011–2012 season. The program was granted full membership in 2013 and the men's and women's

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

programs began competing in the 2014–2015 season. Since the Heat's entry into Canada West, the women's volleyball team has largely been the most successful after qualifying for the playoffs six times and earning two berths in the U Sports national tournament.

Men's basketball

The UBCO men's basketball team won its first ever men's basketball conference game on November 25, 2011, when they defeated the

Regina Cougars The Regina Cougars are the athletic teams that represent the University of Regina in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. The Cougars compete in all sports except football; the university's football team is known as the Regina Rams. A number of the ...

78-76 during their inaugural 2011-12 Canada West season. The team did not qualify for the playoffs that year and did not qualify for the post season for the first nine years of their Canada West membership.

Women's basketball

The UBCO women's basketball team first began play in Canada West in the 2011–2012 season and finished outside of the playoffs with a 2–16 record. The team has not yet qualified for the Canada West playoffs as of the 2019–2020 season.

Men's volleyball

The UBCO men's volleyball team made the post-season in their first season in

during the 2011–2012 season and were the only Heat team to qualify for the playoffs in that inaugural year. Remarkably, as of the 2019–2020 season, that was the only year that the team has qualified for the playoffs in Canada West.

Women's volleyball

The UBCO women's volleyball team first began competing in Canada West in the 2011–2012 season and finished out of the playoffs with a 6–14 record. However, the team rapidly improved the following year where they finished with a 15–7 record and a third place conference finish where they lost to the

Mount Royal Cougars The Mount Royal Cougars are the men's and women's athletic teams that represent Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The Cougars field eight varsity teams with four men's teams and four women's teams that compete in the Canada Wes ...

in their first Canada West playoff appearance. While the team regressed to a 12–10 record and a seventh-place finish in the 2013–2014 season, the Heat claimed their first post-season series victory against the

Brandon Bobcats The Brandon Bobcats are the athletic teams that represent Brandon University in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada. Currently, there are six Bobcat teams competing in U Sports as members of the Canada West Universities Athletic Association while the Bobca ...

before ultimately losing the Canada West Bronze Medal match to the

Trinity Western Spartans The Trinity Western Spartans are the athletic teams that represent Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia. The university's teams are members of U Sports, and compete in the Canada West Universities Athletics Association, and ...

. The team finished third in the regular season in 2014–2015, but once again fell short in the playoffs, losing the bronze medal game to the

UBC Thunderbirds The UBC Thunderbirds are the athletic teams that represent the University of British Columbia in the University Endowment Lands just outside the city limits of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In Canadian intercollegiate competition, the Thu ...

. For the 2015–2016 season, the Heat finished in first place in the Canada West conference regular season with a 22–2 record and subsequently hosted the Canada West Final Four. After defeating the Thunderbirds in the semi-final, the Heat lost a five-set match to the Spartans in the Canada West Championship game. However, because the Heat finished in the top three in the Canada West playoffs, the team qualified for their first

U Sports women's volleyball championship The U Sports women's volleyball championship is an annual tournament that features the top eight women's volleyball teams from among competing Canadian universities in U Sports. 11 games are played over a period of three days culminating in a nati ...

tournament and were the third-seeded team. After defeating the

Dalhousie Tigers The Dalhousie Tigers are the men's and women's athletic teams that represent Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The Tigers field 14 varsity teams with seven men's teams and seven women's teams that primarily compete in the Atlan ...

in the quarter-finals, the Heat lost in the Semi-Finals to the eventual champion

Toronto Varsity Blues The Toronto Varsity Blues is the intercollegiate sports program at the University of Toronto. Its 43 athletic teams regularly participate in competitions held by Ontario University Athletics and U Sports. The Varsity Blues traces its founding to ...

. However, in the bronze medal match, the Heat once again defeated the UBC Thunderbirds to claim third place in their first ever appearance in the CIS national tournament. The Heat finished with a 15–9 record and a fifth-place finish for the 2016–2017 season, but lost the Bronze Medal match in the Canada West playoffs to the Trinity Western Spartans. In 2017–2018, the team finished in third place with a 19–5 record, but lost in the Canada West semi-finals to the Thunderbirds. However, since the 2017 national championship tournament qualified four Canada West teams, no bronze medal game was played and the Heat automatically qualified for the eight-team tournament. However, the fifth-seeded Heat lost to the fourth-seeded, and eventual champion,

Ryerson Rams TMU Bold (known as the Ryerson Rams prior to August 2022) are the varsity athletic teams that represent Toronto Metropolitan University (previously known as Ryerson University) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Toronto Metropolitan University opera ...

after giving up a 2-0 set lead. The 2018–2019 season saw the Heat tumble down the standings with a 2-22 last place finish and an absence from the playoffs for the first time since their inaugural season in Canada West. The following year was an improvement with a 7-17 finish, but the team still finished in tenth place and out of the playoffs.

Awards and honors

Athletes of the Year

The female athlete of the year is awarded the Bakewell Trophy while the Wilson Challenge Trophy is presented to the male athlete of the year.

References

External links

* {{U Sports volleyball U Sports teams Sport in Kelowna