VANCOUVER – The No. 2 UBC Thunderbirds are taking a 10-game win streak into the holiday break after completing the sweep in Manitoba on Saturday, beating the Bisons 3-0 (25-22, 25-12, 25-18) to improve to 11-1.
BOX SCORE
The T-Birds are first in the Canada West standings for now, though 9-1 Trinity Western still has two games to go this weekend and could pull back into a tie for first.
Just like Friday's game, the T-Birds and Bisons started out with another tight set on Saturday, with Manitoba taking an early lead. They were up 12-7 before UBC got things turned around on a nice service run from Abigail Keeping (Surrey, BC), who added an ace to her team-leading total during that stretch that evened things up.
After that, a heavy dose of UBC's outside hitters overwhelmed Manitoba to give the 'Birds the lead at 18-17. Setter
Brina Derksen-Bergen (Abbotsford, BC) had a huge weekend for UBC, and she had
Rosie Schlagintweit (Abbotsford, BC),
Shanice Marcelle (Victoria, BC),
Lisa Barclay (Brandon, MB) and
Alissa Coulter (Calgary, AB) all getting involved in the attack at key times to help UBC pull away.
And also like Friday's game, the Bisons fell apart after the T-Birds grabbed the momentum. UBC exploded for a .484 hitting percentage in a dominant second set in which they jumped out to a 7-1 lead and never looked back. The Bisons managed to string consecutive points together only twice in the set.
Set three followed a similar pattern, with UBC taking a 4-0 lead, again on Keeping's serve, and never let the Bisons get close after that. The T-Birds got another run of five straight points later in the set that featured a string of four consecutive kills from Schlagintweit, giving their lead plenty of padding en route to the sweep.
Schalgintweit finished with 11 kills on .435 hitting. Marcelle led all players with 12 kills, and she had two of UBC's six aces. Barclay had a great two-way game, with nine kills and 15 digs.
Derksen-Bergen put up an eye-popping 41 assists in the three-set affair, giving her an average of more than 13 per set this weekend. She also added four kills and seven digs.
That wraps up first-half action for the T-Birds. They resume conference play at home on January 11, when they kick off a two-game series with Winnipeg at War Memorial Gym.
