On Sunday, March 1, 2026, the UBCO Heat Men’s Volleyball season came to an end. That day, the air inside the UBCO gymnasium didn’t feel like just another sports match. If you looked closely, you could feel, in the air, the pressure of years of sweat, hardwork, and a community finally finding its voice.
When the final whistle signalled the loss for our volleyball team, the silence of defeat lasted only a split second. Immediately after, a roar sounded so deafening, that you would have thought we had just won the National Championship.
I sat down with Head Coach Scott Koskie to understand what went into creating this loud, proud atmosphere in the gym that day. Because in sports, you are often taught that losing is the end. But looking at Koskie, and looking at this team, it felt more like the start of something great.
When 1,200 people decide to collectively care about the same thing at the same moment, there’s a specific kind of magic that happens.
“If you feel nervous, that means it’s important,” Koskie told his team, who were dazzled by the sea of familiarity in the crowd. “It was almost overwhelming to watch the whole university connected top to bottom. Friends, family, coaches who trained the guys as children, even the Dean and Associate Vice President.”
When asked about how this pressure affected the players’ game, Koskie said, “We play to win, obviously. But sometimes the result isn’t all that’s important. We were a part of creating something that was beyond sport.”
The connection between the players and the audience manifested itself in a strange, natural rivalry with Manitoba’s Number 7, Karil Dadash Adeh. Students holding up signs that said “You’re in our house Number #7!,” The Bucket Bros in the front row chanting, shirtless guys with ‘GO HEAT’ written on their bodies, all showed how important a home-court advantage was to our team in the fire of a playoff run. In fact, Koskie mentioned how “Number 7 does not mind it very much either, he enjoys all kinds of attention, positive and otherwise. It was motivating for him.”
UBCO’s crowd didn’t just come to spectate, they participated. They cheered as loud as they could, clapped as hard as possible, and they mirrored the energy they’d seen online from other schools. Koskie describes it as “tasteful”, but it was electric. About the targeted jabs at Adeh, he said, “If you don’t mind dishing out energy, then sometimes you have to take it.”
For Koskie, this weekend was a collision of his present and his past. After being with the Manitoba Bisons for years, games like these, against his alma mater, are often a psychological tightrope. Although UBCO Heat has now played against the Bisons nine times since Koskie joined the program, he mentioned having to “emotionally coach himself,” especially last year during the playoffs in Manitoba, the first time Koskie had to coach an opposing team in the Bisons’ gym.
There are a mix of emotions that exist in knocking out, or being knocked out by, the place that raised you. But Koskie wasn’t coaching for his history. He was there for the exhausted young men in front of him who had just played 14 grueling sets of volleyball in a single weekend.
The scoreboard reflected a rare six point run given up, just a few points short in the final set, that led to the loss of the game. The human side, however, is much heavier.
“We played almost the maximum amount of volleyball one can play. The guys gave literally everything that they had. They were completely exhausted,” said Coach Koskie, with a protective pride in his words, along with some disappointment. “There’s a certain satisfaction and pride that comes along with that.”
On the defeat, Koskie commented, “We felt like we had more. That part was disappointing, that it ended where it ended. But there’s a good cliché there, that you don’t have any regrets after trying your hardest. But that’s where we landed. We did everything we could do, we gave everything we had but we were a few points short. That was sad, but at the same time, it was a proud moment to get as far as we did.”
It’s easier to say you believe in your comeback, it’s a different story altogether to believe in it. Yet, the Heat had absolute faith in themselves. When everyone expected them to fold, they took the third set.
“It is also about how many people we got together. As a team, we show a lot of diligence and care in how we train, interact with people, and compete. So the environment in the crowd that weekend felt really supportive. People really cared about us, what we were accomplishing, and what we wanted to do.” According to Koskie, that validation is what kept the crowd on their feet, delivering a well-deserved standing ovation, amidst and even after the Bisons celebrated their win. “The effort that they showed, we hopefully showed it back to them. We cared just as much about the game and the school as they did. That made it a really meaningful experience.”
As the Hangar emptied out, the legacy of the 2025-26 season remained etched in everyone’s hearts. This season was huge for the UBCO Heat and according to Koskie, “It's really what we continue to do with it. But this season has really brought us to the forefront. We took a big step forward this year. That's the goal, the goal is to put our name with the top ones. But we’re certainly not there yet. And we don’t just wanna be one and done.”
Last year, the goal was just to make the playoffs. This year, the goal was to host them. Next year? Koskie doesn’t hesitate in dreaming big: “The top four. The National Championship.”
On March 1, 2026, the Heat didn’t just lose a game. They proved that they belong in the conversation with the top names of Canada West. They showed to everyone watching, in person and on their screens, that in a community like Kelowna, sport is personal.
The standing ovation wasn’t for the score on Sunday. It was for the sheer human effort of a team that refused to go out quietly. The season might be over for now, but the heartbeat of this program is louder than it has ever been.
For Koskie, his holy grail boils down to one simple thing: “To get to the top.”
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