VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds put forth a complete team effort on Saturday night to beat the Regina Cougars 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-15) for the second time in a row at War Memorial Gym.
BOX SCORE
MVB: T-Birds v. Regina (Nov. 24, 2012) Gallery
The T-Birds dominated the match with their team defence, holding the Cougars to .010 team hitting and posting 15 blocks while siding out at a rate of nearly 80 per cent for the night.
Chris Howe had a big night for the 'Birds with seven blocks and six kills. His fellow middle
Alex Russell added five blocks, as did outside hitter
Jarrid Ireland.
Ireland also had 10 kills, tying him with
Quentin Schmidt and
Ben Chow for the match-high. Chow also hit an impressive .562 for the game.
Andrew Nelson led the Cougars with seven kills, adding two digs and an ace.
UBC sided out at 83 per cent in the first set, preventing the Cougars from getting any momentum going. Four blocks from
Alex Russell kept the Cougars off balance offensively and Schmidt had five kills to lead the UBC attack.
The second set was all about the block for both teams, with Regina getting six blocks in the frame and UBC coming up with five. It was close early on, but the Thunderbirds' defence was again too much for the Cougars to generate any consistent offence against. Libero
Ian Perry had nine digs, including a couple great point-saving plays that turned into offence for his squad.
The T-Birds' outside hitters got heavily involved in the second set blocking too. Ireland had two of those blocks on the outside, and he also led the attack with six kills in the second.
Set three was toughest for UBC early on, with the Cougars hanging right with them past the midpoint, but as they did in the first two sets, the T-Birds quickly pulled away late.
This time it was middle man Howe doing a lot of the work, earning two more blocks and three kills to set the tone for UBC on both sides of the ball. Those points all came late to help the 'Birds leave the Cougars in the dust. The set was just 13-12 UBC until they closed out on a 12-3 run.
UBC is now 6-4 on the season, which is good for fifth in the Canada West standings. Their last series before the break will be on the road next week against fourth-place Manitoba.
Next home action for the Thunderbirds will be to kick off the second half of the season on January 11 against Winnipeg.
