VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds surprised No. 3 Trinity Western in the first set, but the Spartans came back to win three straight and sweep opening weekend with a 3-1 win (23-25, 25-17, 25-20, 26-16) on Saturday at War Memorial Gym.
The T-Birds' block frustrated the Spartans in the first set, as the visitors hit just .125 while UBC built a 21-16 lead. Trinity Western clawed back into the set and survived two game-points until
Demijan Savija finally put them away with a big kill. UBC had five blocks in the frame, led by middle Carey Brett, who had four block-assists.
The tide shifted in the battle at the net after the first set though, as the Spartans would go on to outblock UBC 17-9.5 in the match, but T-Birds head coach
Richard Schick said Trinity Western's serving was the real key to their turnaround on Saturday night.
"Sure their block picked up, but I think their serving picked up and our serve-receive went down which was the difference," said Schick. "Their servers hit their targets."
The Spartans finished the night with six aces, including three from Lucas Van Berkel, who also led the blocking effort with an impressive 15 block-assists. UBC's serving was much-improved from Friday night too, as the 'Birds had four aces and just seven errors after committing 13 service errors in the three-set season opener, but their serve-receiving troubles had them on their heels for much of the match on Saturday.
The 'Birds went ahead 7-3 in the second set before the Spartans got hot and went on a 7-1 run to take the lead. They never looked back from there, leading for the rest of the second and nearly all of the third and fourth sets as well.
The T-Birds showed some grit in the fourth set after falling behind 6-2 early, as they fought back to trail just 13-12 midway through the frame. But the Spartans responded with a 9-0 run led by Dan Jansen Van Doorn, who had four kills during the run before adding his fifth of the set on match point.
"We have had good runs of play in preseason but it was good to see some of that against a team like this," said Schick. "They a very good team that will be at nationals, so that's a good gauge for us right off the bat."
Rudy Verhoeff led the Spartans with 18 kills and 10 digs, while Josh Doornenbal and Nicholas Del Bianco each chipped in 13 kills.
Demijan Savija topped UBC's kills list with 12, while rookie
Ben Chow added seven to go along with a solid serving performance.
"Ben really ripped on his serve tonight," said Schick.
Brett turned in an efficient performance for the 'Birds, with four kills on just seven attacks and six block-assists. Libero
Blair Bann led all players by a wide margin with 18 digs on the night.
Things don't get any easier for the 'Birds next week, as they take on the 2010 CIS bronze medal-winning Alberta Golden Bears, who are currently the top-ranked team in the country. The 'Birds and Bears square off on November 5 and 6 at War Memorial Gym, with both games beginning at 8 p.m. The Spartans will be heading home to host Thompson Rivers.
-30-
