VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds did away with the Calgary Dinos in three sets (25-18, 25-20, 25-19) for the second consecutive night on Saturday at War Memorial Gym to remain unbeaten at 15-0 on the year.
The win was never really in doubt for UBC, as the deepest lead Calgary ever had in a set was an 8-7 advantage in the third.
Liz Cordonier led a balanced T-Bird attack with 11 kills, including two impressive game-point kills. In the first set, Cordonier capped off a frantic rally that featured impressive digs by both sides with a big cross-court kill. Then on match-point in the third, she managed to adjust mid-air to a tough set and knock the ball off the Calgary block and out of bounds to seal the win.
Four other T-Birds had at least five kills, but the nation's top squad relied more on blocking and solid defence to sweep Calgary this weekend.
"Our power hitters struggled a bit this weekend, but to be able to fight through that without a lot of errors is a really positive thing," said UBC head coach
Doug Reimer.
The T-Birds out-hit the Dinos .226 to .029. Six Calgary players had three kills, but none had more than five. Ali Sandholm had the best game offensively for Calgary with five kills and an ace.
Redshirt freshman
Jessica von Schilling had a big game for the 'Birds on both sides of the ball, leading all players with eight block assists and one solo block, while also chipping in seven kills.
"For someone who was a redshirt last year without a ton of experience, she has come a long way and is improving steadily," Reimer said of vonSchilling. "We got a good effort out of all our subs across the board.
Lauren Whitehead was very steady and
Brina Derksen-Bergen did a nice job setting in the third set."
Whitehead had one block assist and a kill on game-point in the second set. Derksen-Bergen had 15 assists in relief of starting setter
Katie Tyzuk, who had 19.
With a three-game lead in the conference and just five games remaining in the regular season, the T-Birds are in good position to lock up the first seed heading into the Canada West playoffs. Two road games against second-place Alberta still loom large on UBC's schedule though, so the T-Birds can't afford to ease up on the gas pedal in the final weeks of the season.
Calgary is hanging on to the final playoff spot at 6-8, but Winnipeg is just one win behind the Dinos with two games in-hand.
The T-Birds will host Manitoba next weekend, and could lock up first place with a sweep and at least one Alberta loss. Calgary will be on the road in Regina to take on the Cougars.
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