VANCOUVER - It wasn't easy, but the number one-ranked UBC Thunderbirds survived a scare against the 1-7 Saskatchewan Huskies to complete the weekend sweep and keep their winning streak alive with a five-set win (25-22, 21-25, 24-26, 27-25, 15-7) on Saturday at War Memorial Gym.
The 'Birds cruised through the fifth set with relative ease, finishing on an 8-2 run to take the match, but the Huskies gave the nation's top team all they could handle up to that point.
"It was very good experience for our team to get pushed that way and have to struggle through a match," said UBC head coach
Doug Reimer. "Our response was tremendous in the last part of the fourth set and the fifth set to find a way to get it done with lots of different lineups and different looks from us."
The T-Birds' average opponent hitting percentage is .163 this season, and the Huskies were hitting just .106 as a team heading into this weekend, but you wouldn't know it based on the first three sets on Saturday. The Huskies hit .409 in the first set with zero errors, and despite falling behind 1-0, they had an equally impressive second set, hitting .313 with just three errors.
By contrast, the T-Birds already had 14 errors after the second set, and they finished the match with 32 — almost twice as many as the Huskies.
"I give Saskatchewan credit because they did a lot of things really well and it may not be fancy but it put pressure on us," said Reimer. "That's a very good 1-7 team."
The UBC block offered little resistance early in the match, but it became a deciding factor later on. The T-Birds had three blocks in each of the last two sets, holding the Huskies under .100 hitting in the process.
UBC hit .381 in the final set, led by
Shanice Marcelle's five kills on seven attacks. She finished with 21 kills in the match on .306 hitting, and had a match-high 21 digs.
Lisa Barclay led all players with 22 kills.
Jessica von Schilling had 10 kills, six block assists and one solo block. Setter
Brina Derksen-Bergen had 58 assists on the night.
"I was really pleased with how we hung in there and how players, after struggling in certain areas, found a way to come back and contribute," said Reimer. "It was a very important win for us."
Katie Graves led the Huskies with 16 kills and 16 digs, but the T-Birds were able to key in on her late in the match, which severely hampered the visitors' attack. She had 13 kills on .394 hitting through three sets, but was held to just three more kills on 28 attacks after that.
The Huskies fall to 1-7 heading into the semester break, while UBC's 8-game winning streak has them at 8-2 on the year. Conference action resumes on January 14 for the T-Birds, when they begin a two-match series in Calgary against the Dinos.
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