VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds had the No. 2 Manitoba Bisons on the ropes midway through Saturday's tilt, but a clutch Bisons comeback in the third set swung the momentum in their favour, allowing them to walk away from War Memorial Gym with a 3-1 win (25-21, 23-25, 26-24, 25-11) and a weekend sweep.
After the T-Birds evened the match at one game each, they looked poised to take a 2-1 lead, up 24-21 in the third set after back to back kills from Norwegian import Sjur Godo. But the Bisons showed why they are the second-ranked team in the nation with a 5-0 run to close out the set, three of those points coming courtesy of Dane Pischke, including a solo block on set point.
"It was tough the way that third set ended after being up 24-21 and not being able to put a ball down," said UBC head coach
Richard Schick. "That's unfortunate because it would be a whole different story coming out for the fourth up 2-1, but it comes down to making plays when it matters. We do all the other things - we pass the ball well, block well and defend the ball well, but we have to put the ball away and we're not doing it at the most important times."
Fifth-year
Robert Bennett had a good match offensively for the 'Birds, knocking down 14 kills on .281 hitting, but their other two main attackers on Saturday - first years
Jarrid Ireland and Godo - struggled to beat the tough Manitoba block and were held to negative hitting percentages.
Pischke was a big part of that block, earning six block assists and two solos, in addition to leading the team in kills along with Chris Voth. Both had 18 kills on the night.
Middle Joseph Brooks was in on 10 of Manitoba's 19 blocks.
Cary Brett led UBC with seven of its 14 blocks on the night, adding four kills on nine attacks.
The T-Birds also let the first set slip away a bit after holding early leads of 5-0 and 13-7. Voth did the damage with five kills and three blocks in that frame to lead the Bisons comeback.
"I thought we definitely were there for moments today, and probably more moments than last night, which was nice to see," said Schick. "We stuck with it for a while, but just not for a whole match."
The Bisons improve to 13-1 on the year, and will gear up for a crucial series next weekend against 14-0 Trinity Western that will likely decide who comes out of the regular season as the top seed.
The T-Birds fall to 8-6 and have a stretch of ranked opponents to look forward to as they close out the regular season. Next week they are on the road against No. 10 Winnipeg, and their next home action comes February 3 and 4 against No. 8 Brandon.
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