VANCOUVER - In their first match as the no. 1 ranked team in the country this season, the UBC Thunderbirds got a 3-0 (25-15, 25-23, 25-22) victory over the Saskatchewan Huskies in an afternoon tilt at War Memorial Gym.
"The result of 3-0 is what you hope for but the level of execution was actually a big drop from where we've been the last two weeks," said UBC head coach
Doug Reimer.
Perhaps it was the national recognition or the early start time but the T-Birds (7-2) struggled at times and had to fight off a tenacious Huskies (1-6) squad down the stretch in both the second and third sets after giving up comfortable leads.
UBC led 17-11 in the second frame, however, Saskatchewan responded with a 6-1 run to cut the deficit to just one thanks in large part to a trio of UBC attacking errors. The 'Birds pulled back ahead 23-19, however, a service error from UBC followed by consecutive kills from the Huskies' Erin McGladdery, Kira Zeeben and then McGladdery again tied it at 23-23.
Lisa Barclay finally got a kill for the 'Birds before a Huskie error ended the set.
It was an even bigger comeback for the visitors in the third, as UBC's starting line-up returned to start the set and raced out to a 12-1 lead. That buffer remained largely intact through to the second technical timeout. UBC went to their bench down the stretch and maintained an eight point cushion at 20-12, however, when
Rayel Quiring had to leave the floor after an ankle injury, the 'Birds seemed to lose their momentum and the Huskies clawed back.
It was a 9-2 run for Saskatchewan this time, as they closed the gap to a single point at 22-21. A kill from
Kristine Johnson put UBC ahead and then fellow first-year
Rosie Schlagintweit tallied a kill and a Johnson service ace closed out the match.
"This is still a pretty young and new group. I think one of the things that is always difficult is maintaining a high level of play from week to week in this league," said Reimer. "We knew it would be difficult coming off a pair of wins over Manitoba which probably exceeded expectations. Now all of a sudden they have to deal with being 6-2 and that's something players and teams have to develop."
UBC had seven players with two or more kills on the afternoon. Quiring lead the bunch on nine but did not return after rolling her ankle on a broken play in the third set. The T-Birds out blocked the Huskies 11.5-7.0 with both Quiring and
Jessica von Schilling picking up five blocks assists.
Saskatchewan was paced by McGladdery, Katie Graves, and Candace Hueser who each had six kills. Middle Laura Beadle had five kills on 10 attacks to go along with one solo block and five block assists.
The two teams wrap up their weekend series on Saturday night. First serve is set for 6:00 p.m.
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