VANCOUVER - After winning a five-set battle with Thompson Rivers yesterday, the UBC Thunderbirds found themselves on the losing end of a preseason tilt with the WolfPack on Saturday, going down 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-22) at War Memorial Gym.
UBC showed strength both on attack and defence during Saturday's match but did not put enough of the two together.
"We are still a young team. We are playing with three new guys out there consistently," said UBC head coach
Richard Schick. "It's preseason and we have to learn from this match. There are a lot of positives to take away but obviously some things we have to work on as well. It's a work in progress but we like the direction in which we are heading."
The T-Bird offence struggled to get off the ground in the first set but they battled back to tie the set at 16 only to have TRU pull away thanks in large part to six Kevin Tillie kills. He hit .667 in the first set and finished with a game-high 17 kills on .343 hitting.
The second set was better for the UBC offence, as they improved to .231 hitting, but their defence couldn't slow down a TRU offence that found their groove. Rookie
Ben Chow bounced back from a slow first set to have four kills in the second but it wasn't enough to keep the visitors from taking a 2-0 lead.
The 'Birds had their best showing in the third set, when they outblocked the WolfPack 7-2 and forced more errors than they committed, but a huge seven-kill effort by Aleks Saddlemeyer pushed the visitors to victory.
"TRU made adjustments and changes from yesterday and they wanted that match tonight so you have to give them credit," Schick said. "They played hard and we want teams to bring their best game because it makes us better. They did that tonight and we have to learn from that and bring our best game more consistently."
Milo Warren led the 'Birds with eight kills and chipped in three block-assists.
With their preseason schedule now in the rearview mirror, the 'Birds can look forward to the start of conference play. They kick off the regular season at home against Trinity Western. They will play the Spartans on October 29 and 30 at War Memorial Gym, with both games starting at 8 p.m.
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