With two of his best players sidelined and his team still recovering from a gutsy win on the road the previous week, Steve Manuel knew the odds were stacked against the UBC Okanagan Heat.

At the Canada West Final Four in Edmonton, the Heat was swept in back-to-back matches by the Alberta Golden Bears and Trinity Western Spartans to finish out of the medals in fourth place overall.

The top three teams鈥擜lberta, Trinity and UBC鈥攁ll qualifed for the U Sports (CIS) championship this weekend at Ryerson in Toronto.

In their fourth consecutive trip to the conference finals, the Heat was without both fifth-year setter Emily Oxland and leading point producer Siobhan Fitzpatrick due to injuries.

Coming off an emotional three-match quarterfinal win over the hometown Calgary Dinos, the Heat were the only team to have travelled the previous week.

It all added up to an uphill climb for UBC Okanagan at the Canada West finals.

鈥淭o be without two of your best players and going up against those veteran teams two matches in a row, that was a tall order for us,鈥� said Manuel, the Heat鈥檚 head coach. 鈥淲e knew that if everything lined up and we played out of our minds, we would have a chance. But we travelled the week before and we were pretty banged up, so were up against it.

鈥淛ust to make it back (to the Final Four) as injured as we were, was real positive.鈥�

The Heat, who won the Canada West silver medal last year, lost 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-21) in Friday鈥檚 semifinal to the No. 1 ranked and host Alberta Pandas.

On Saturday, Trinity Western subdued UBCO in three sets (25-13, 25-20, 25-20), preventing the Heat from returning to the eight-team national championship for the second year in a row.

It marked the end of the Heat careers of Oxland, Kaitlynn Given and Megan Festival, all of whom have been key players for Manuel since joining the program in the 2012-13 season.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e the core of this team, they鈥檝e been to the playoffs every year with us,鈥� Manuel said of the threesome. 鈥淎ll three have been a big part of our program鈥檚 success.鈥�

And Manuel is excited about his returning corps for next season, led by Fitzpatrick, Michelle Jakszuk, Aiden Lea, setter Sara McCreary and Erin Drew.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a strong group we have coming back,鈥� he said.