VANCOUVER - Nothing could slow down the UBC Thunderbirds on Friday night at War Memorial Gym, as they cruised to a 3-0 win (25-14, 25-16, 25-19) over the Brandon Bobcats on the strength of 13 kills from both
Kyla Richey and
Shanice Marcelle.
Marcelle has been terrorizing the conference all season, and her 13 kills on .429 hitting will simply further pad her lead in the Canada West kills race. But for Richey, as well as
Jen Hinze, it was the first CIS home action of the year, coming off a stint with the national team, and neither of them missed a beat. Richey equalled Marcelle's match-high of 13 kills on .455 hitting while adding a match-high 10 digs, while Hinze finished with eight kills on .312 hitting to help the 'Birds erase memories of last week's upset loss to Calgary.
"That was a night and day difference from last weekend and I'm sure it surprised Brandon a little bit if they watched the tape from those games," said UBC head coach
Doug Reimer. "That's the best way to build your confidence, when you struggle like we did last week but then come back and show your strength."
Reimer said Richey, Hinze and the rest of the team looked more comfortable on the court this week after going through an adjustment in Calgary.
"Both of these girls are great teammates and they have been around here a lot, but any time you make changes to the roster things are going to be different and there is an adjustment, so we just had to go through that process," Reimer said.
Brandon took an early lead in the first set with a mini-run of three straight points, but that would prove to be the only time in the opening frame that the visitors were able to string back-to-back points together.
The second set was more of the same, but the Bobcats did make things interesting late in the third. They were behind 18-8 before clawing their way back into the match thanks to a few T-Bird errors and three kills from Larissa Vonkerman, but a step-around kill from Hinze finally clinched match point for the 'Birds.
"Part of why we looked so good was we got (setter)
Brina Derksen-Bergen the ball in-system, and she connected very well with all the hitters, but in particular Shanice," said Reimer. "Those two worked very well today, and when everything gets a little better, the cumulative result can be a lot better."
Derksen-Bergen finished with 37 assists.
Teagan Hunter led the Bobcats with seven kills and seven digs. Her Bobcats fall to 7-4 on the season.
The T-Birds move to 10-3 with the win, and will look to keep rolling tomorrow night when they finish off their series with the Bobcats at War Memorial Gym. The action starts at 6 p.m.
-30-
