Coquitlam’s Mathew Guidi says winning a national volleyball championship with the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds was “a dream come true” even though he had to experience much of his senior season from the bench because of injuries.
Guidi saw action in only one set in the championship final on March 18, when UBC ousted the two-time defending champions from Trinity Western University in three straight sets at McMaster University in Hamilton. He played all four sets and scored three kills in the Thunderbirds semi-final win over University of Alberta to reach the final.
Over the course of the season, Guidi played only 82 sets, down from the 124 he played in his junior year.
Guidi, a Pinetree secondary grad, was recruited to UBC even though his high school didn’t have a volleyball team. Instead, he caught the program’s attention playing for the Focus Volleyball club, where UBC assistant, Matt LeBourdais, also coaches.
Guidi said that path to post-secondary volleyball isn’t unusual in British Columbia.
“Lots of players get extra exposure playing through the high school program,” Guidi said. “Most university coaches get the majority of their recruiting accomplished through the club system as all players play in those leagues after they finish the high school system.”
A change at the top of UBC’s volleyball program in 2016 that resulted in the departure of head coach Richard Schick, who had recruited Guidi, shook the team but didn’t stray them from building toward’s the school’s first national volleyball championship in 35 years.
Under new coach Kerry McDonald, Guidi had his best season ever in 2016-17 and the team finished fourth at nationals, losing their semi-final to the U of A.
Guidi said the team’s bond was solidifying.
“I just think our team atmosphere improved over each year because we go to know each other more,” he said.
UBC was seeded third heading into the nationals, but Guidi said the team never felt like underdogs against the mighty Spartans, whom they’d defeated in regular season play on Feb. 9 — one of only two teams to accomplish that.
“They are recognized as our cross-town rivals,” Guidi said of Trinity Western. “We’re so evenly matched.”
Guidi graduates in April with a degree in sociology, after which he plans to travel and reflect on his five-year journey to the top of Canadian university volleyball.
“I think the whole process has definitely matured me and prepared me for my next step in life,” he said.
