VANCOUVER – The No. 1 UBC Thunderbirds fell in five sets to the No. 2 Alberta Pandas in Edmonton on Friday night (25-19, 17-25, 25-17, 25-27, and 16-18 ), losing for the first time in 14 regular season matches dating back to last season.
UBC had three players with double-digit kills, led by
Lisa Barclay's 17 and then followed by
Shanice Marcelle's 13 and 11 from
Kyla Richey.
Alberta received 11 kills from fourth-year veteran Krista Zubick, while Caitlin Buckell and Alena Omelchenko each added eight.
“A very hard fought match and full credit to Alberta as they played hard to earn the close fourth and fifth set wins,” said UBC head coach
Doug Reimer. “We lacked consistency in our serve and pass but at times played very well.”
Both teams saved a match point in the fifth set before Alberta scored three straight points to win 18-16.
The top two teams in the country battled back and forth throughout the match.
UBC gained momentum in the fourth set when the team rattled off five straight points to go ahead 15-14 but the Pandas rallied and earned a set point at 24-22.
The Thunderbirds fought out of that situation with three straight points to get a chance of their own to win the set before surrendering three consecutive points to drop the game 27-25.
UBC started the match well, winning the first set 25-19. With the score tied at 13-13, the Thunderbirds, capitalizing on numerous Pandas' errors, reeled off a 9-2 run to take control of the set.
The home side roared to life in the second set, however, opening up with a big lead of six points, four of which came off aces, but saw the 'Birds come storming back to within one point by the technical timeout.
Alberta was able to return to form after the break and put the visitors away 25-17 to tie the match.
The third set saw Richey and Barclay combine for seven kills, which helped UBC to an easy 25-17 win and a 2-1 match lead.
But Richey also had to leave the match because of an ankle injury.
“She was playing tremendously well before she went down,” said Reimer.
Both teams struggled with their attack however, or exceled on defence, as UBC's attack percentage was a combined 14%, topping out at 27% (fourth set), while the Pandas had an 11% attack percentage that reached a peak of 23% in the final set.
With the win, Alberta improves to 7-2 on the season, while UBC drops to 8-1.
The Pandas spun a total of 11 aces on UBC, and combined for a total of 18 blocks, while the visitors scored just three aces, against 10 service errors, and 12 blocks.
The two teams will clash again tomorrow night this time at 6:30 p.m. in Edmonton.
“We will have to dig deep tomorrow without like we did today but hopefully with a different result,” said Reimer.
- with files from Matt Gutsch (Alberta Sports Information Director)
