WINNIPEG - The no. 6 UBC Thunderbirds recovered from a slow start to top the no. 10 Winnipeg Wesmen 3-1 (23-25, 25-18, 25-10, 25-11) on the road Friday night.
After losing a tightly contested first game, UBC found themselves down 16-12 at the second technical timeout during the second set. The three-time defending CIS champions responded with a 9-0 run on
Mariah Bruinsma's serve to seal the game and swing momentum in their favour as they cruised to the win over the final two sets.
Shanice Marcelle paced the UBC attack with 20 kills and chipped in with 13 digs and
Rayel Quiring tallied 14 kills on only 19 attacks for a .684 hitting percentage. Rookie
Lisa Barclay added 13 kills and a team-high 16 digs.
Carleen Kruschel led the hosts with nine kills.
"It was a solid match, especially considering we had a bit of a slow start," said UBC head coach
Doug Reimer. "We had lots of good individual performances. Rayel was very strong offensively for us all night. Mariah was good all around and she served very well. That was probably one of keys to turning the match around."
Late in the first set, Winnipeg led 23-21 before a pair of UBC kills from
Jessica von Schilling and
Kristine Johnson levelled the score. Winnipeg responded with a Kruschel kill and then a hitting error by UBC gave the hosts an 1-0 lead.
UBC's big run during the second frame blew open a tightly contested set and seemed to put Winnipeg on their heels.
Winnipeg led 2-1 early in the third set but by the second technical timeout UBC was ahead 16-8. The 'Birds then closed the set on a 9-2 run that featured Bruinsma at the service line for seven of the points.
In the fourth set, UBC jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back, picking up their third straight win of the season.
The two teams are back at it on Saturday for an afternoon matinee. First serve is 11:30 a.m. PT in Winnipeg.
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