VANCOUVER – The No. 1 UBC Thunderbirds women's volleyball team swept past the visiting Saskatchewan Huskies in straight sets on Saturday afternoon at War Memorial Gymnasium.
The set scores were 25-22, 25-16 and 25-18.
Lisa Barclay led UBC with nine kills while Regina's Candace Hueser had seven to pace the Huskies.
“I was happy with our performance today,” said UBC head coach
Doug Reimer. “I think there were some positive signs for us. I look at our depth. I thought
Rosie Schlagintweit had a good weekend and a number of players came in and contributed.”
For the second night in a row, visiting Saskatchewan started off well, jumping out to a 10-6 lead on UBC but the Thunderbirds fought back to take the lead at 12-11.
The two squads battled back and forth down the stretchbefore UBC finally took the first set 25-22. The opening set featured five lead changes.
The second set started out close again but with the Huskies leading 5-4, UBC rolled off a 16-6 run that put the set away.
In the final set, the Huskies once again held a 5-4 advantage before giving up a 13-5 run.
“Compliments to Saskatchewan,” said Reimer. “I thought they played with way better energy. They made us work a lot harder in most aspects of the game. Their hitting and sideout percentage was significantly better. “
Kyla Richey added eight kills and
Rosie Schlagintweit had seven for the Thunderbirds.
Danielle Richards had 11 digs.
“I thought our general sideout play was pretty good. I thought somebody like Kyla was showing, offensively, a very good range of options and shots; same with
Lisa Barclay.”
In addition to Heuser's seven kills, Saskatchewan got six from Kayla Tycholiz. Four Huskies (Heuser, Megan Leniuk, Kelsey Bates and Erin Foster) recorded five digs each.
“Today was a good match for us,” said Reimer. “It's not easy to turnaround and play on short rest. There's not much prep and we're out of our normal routine.”
UBC improves to 6-0 on the season while Saskatchewan drops to 0-8.
The Thunderbirds host Calgary next weekend while the Huskies have a bye.
