VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds surprised the top-ranked Alberta Golden Bears in the first set, but the Bears stormed back to win three straight and take their season opener 3-1 (23-25 25-17 25-19 25-21) on Friday night at War Memorial Gym.
After Alberta came back to take a 2-1 lead in the match, the T-Birds got hot early in the fourth set and jumped out to a 9-4 lead. That seemed to wake up the nation's top-ranked team however, as the Bears would go on to hit .438 in the set with Spencer Leiske's seven kills in the frame pacing them to the win.
"We kept the ball in play more and didn't give up big runs like we did last week," said UBC head coach
Richard Schick. "We were tougher mentally. Alberta has four fifth-year guys who are all big players who have experienced a lot of success, so for our young guys to go out there and battle like they did was really good."
One of those young T-Birds was first-year outside hitter
Milo Warren, who led his team with 11 kills on .261 hitting while also chipping in three block-assists.
"I thought he brought it offensively and defensively," said Schick. "He never stopped playing and made some really great plays."
Warren was especially deadly during the first set, when the led the 'Birds to the 25-23 win with five kills on just seven attacks. The T-Birds hit .212 as a team in the first, but never broke the .200 barrier after that. On the other side of the net, they held Alberta to .147 hitting in the opening set but the Bears' attack got stronger as the night went on.
"It was nice to see us battle off the bat," said Schick. "We have to realize that one set isn't going to cut it, but at the same time it was promising to see how we are capable of battling, and we are proving that more and more each game."
Leiske had a game-high 19 kills on .405 hitting, and also led his team with 11 digs. He contributed four block-assists and one solo block to the war effort at the net, where Alberta outblocked UBC 13.5 to 7.5.
Mitch Irvine also had an efficient offensive game for Alberta with 16 kills on .519 hitting. Tanner Nault had 46 assists for the Bears.
For the 'Birds, Warren's fellow rookie
Ben Chow was next on the kills list with nine. Middle Carey Brett had eight kills on .357 hitting and led the team with four block-assists. Libero
Blair Bann led all players with 18 digs.
The T-Birds and Bears square off for game two of their series on Saturday night at War Memorial Gym. Game time is 8 p.m.
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