WINNIPEG - In a rematch of the 2010 CIS Championship final, the no. 6 UBC Thunderbirds came out victorious over the newly minted no. 1 Manitoba Bisons by way of a 3-0 (25-16, 25-20, 25-20) decision.
UBC (7-2), who remains without the services of All-Canadians
Jen Hinze and
Kyla Richey until the new year due to their Team Canada commitments, showed good team discipline on Friday, coming back in each set after allowing the Bisons (4-2) to earn early advantages.
"Good solid match for our squad today. We played with great consistency throughout all three sets. Our commitment and work ethic on defence was outstanding. We'll be ready for a tougher game tomorrow," said UBC head coach
Doug Reimer.
It was another impressive showing for a line-up that features three players getting their first taste of CIS action, in addition to having a setter who is just getting comfortable at the helm after serving as a back-up the last two seasons.
"I thought Brina did a fantastic job tonight with distributing the ball and making smart choices," said Reimer of his setter Derksen-Bergen who had 34 set assists.
Shanice Marcelle led a solid T-Bird offensive performance with 13 kills while rookie
Lisa Barclay chipped in with 10 and
Rayel Quiring added eight as UBC tallied only 11 errors, three of which came on match point, all night. Libero
Briana Liau Kent had a team-high 12 digs with Barclay adding 10.
Manitoba was paced by Kate Wasyliw and Kristi Hunter who each tallied nine kills, however, as a squad the Bisons made 18 errors.
The first set started out evenly with Manitoba having the slight edge over UBC at the first technical timeout, leading 8-7. They began to fall behind though as the second timeout loomed, and the Thunderbirds took control en route to their most lopsided advantage of the match.
It was déja vu in the second set, as Manitoba came out strong once again, staying aggressive on UBC and securing an 8-6 lead at the first timeout. However they couldn't hang on to it, and began to fall behind, reaching the second time out trailing 16-14 to the Thunderbirds. UBC continued to press and jumped out to a comfortable lead, negating the Bisons comeback attempts.
Manitoba once again led 8-6 at the first timeout in the third set, however, UBC turned up the heat coming out of the first timeout. The visitors went on a 10-1 run into the second technical timeout and never looked back as they cruised to the sweep.
The two teams hit the court again tomorrow night. First serve is set for 4:00 p.m. PT.
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