VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds rebounded from a sluggish start on Friday against the Calgary Dinos to win three straight close sets and earn a 3-1 win (16-25, 25-22, 27-25, 25-23) at War Memorial Gym.
The T-Birds looked out of sorts in the opening set and were quickly down 1-0 in the match, but clawed their way back in front in the next two sets with strong blocking and a balanced attack.
They had an 18-15 lead in the fourth before the Dinos went on a 4-0 run to take the lead. The teams traded points until the set was tied at 23. A Calgary service error gave UBC a chance at match point, and fifth-year setter
Chris Klassen came up with the game-winning shot on a tricky setter dump that caught the Dinos unprepared.
"We started poorly but we finished strong," said UBC head coach
Richard Schick. "Even though the last couple sets were tight, in years past we lost those tight sets. Not that we're going to win them all the time now, but it sure goes a long way when you win those close ones."
In the thrid set, it took UBC three attempts at set point to finally close the deal.
Jarrid Ireland and
Alex Russell eventually sealed it with a big block at the net.
The second set was also a tight one, but two straight Dinos errors were the difference in the end.
In the first set, UBC got behind 8-2 and never got closer than five points off the lead the rest of the way.
"Well we started slow, and we've had slow starts in the past," said Schick. "It was probably the most patient I've been in my coaching career because I just knew it wasn't us. It's not that we didn't come ready to play - I just knew it wasn't us, so there was no panicking at all. I was just reassuring them to keep believing in what we were trying to do, and they did a great job of that throughout the match."
David Zeyha led the T-Birds with 15 kills, while Ireland chipped in 11.
Cary Brett had another big night blocking with two solo blocks to go with four assists.
Klassen finished with a pair of kills to go along with six assists in spot duty at the setter position. Rookie setter
Milan Nikic had 30 assists.
Allen Meek led all players with 19 kills for Calgary, while adding two aces, nine digs and three block assists. Chris Hoag had 15 kills and 11 digs for the Dinos.
The T-Birds move to 6-1 on the year, and can equal last season's win total with just one more victory. They will get a chance to do just that against the Dinos (4-5) tomorrow, when the sides wrap up the weekend with game two at War Memorial Gym. The action starts at 7 p.m.
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