LANGLEY, British Columbia - After a rare loss on Friday, the No. 1 UBC Thunderbirds women's volleyball team rallied Saturday with a convincing 3-0 (26-24, 25-13, 25-23) win over the No. 5 Trinity Western Spartans at the Langley Events Centre.
"Very pleased with our response tonight," said UBC head coach
Doug Reimer. "I think the victory was keyed by improved serving, with Shanice's run at the start of set two, being the most obvious example. We also had a much better feel for blocking and backcourt defence."
After eking out the first set 26-24, the T-Birds were nothing short of dominant in the second set, riding the strength of five aces from
Shanice Marcelle en route to a 12-point win. In the third set, despite a valiant effort from the Spartans, UBC squeaked out a two-point win with a late push.
With the win UBC improves to 18-2 on the season as they captured the Canada West regular season title and will host the Final Four Feb. 24-25.
"It was a good way to finish a successful regular season and proud of the 18-2 record," said Reimer.
The loss drops Trinity Western to 13-7 on the season but the Spartans will host Calgary in a first round best-of-three playoff series
Prior to Saturday, the Spartans had won 22 straight Canada West games at the Langley Events Centre, dating back to Jan. 15, 2010 when they lost to Regina.
The T-Birds were led by
Kyla Richey, who had 12 kills, nine digs, a block and an ace, Marcelle, who had five kills, 11 digs, three blocks and seven aces – the latter of which ties her for the third most in a single match in Canada West history – and
Lisa Barclay, who had seven kills, five digs and two blocks.
Trinity Western was led by Royal Richardson, who had 12 kills and five digs, Nicole Bazin, who had six kills, three blocks and two digs, and Kelci French, who had four kills, nine digs, three blocks and five assists.
Much like the set on Friday night, the opening stanza Saturday was a hotly contested on that was close from start to finish.
The Spartans took an early lead at 11-7 after a Nicole Bazin kill but it wasn't to last. The T-Birds Marcelle got a kill to get UBC back to within three, and then she went to the serving line and promptly guided her team to the next four points, including back-to-back aces at one point, that gave the visitors a 12-11 lead.
After that it is was back and forth but UBC largely possessed a slight advantage. After a block from the T-Birds Barclay, UBC took its biggest lead of the set at 20-17.
While the Spartans battled back to make it 23-23 and then 24-24, thanks to three straight kills from Alicia Perrin, Trinity Western was never able to retake the lead. The T-Birds Richey earned a kill to make it 25-24 and then an attacking error by the Spartans gave UBC the set 26-24.
With nearly identical stats for both teams, it was Marcelle's two aces that proved to be the statistical difference.
In the second set, the Spartans took a 3-0 lead but then Marcelle went to the serving line and completely took over.
After Rayel Quiring earned a kill to make it 3-1, Marcelle led the T-Birds on what would evolve into a 9-0 run that included five aces from Marcelle. It took a Royal Richardson kill to stop UBC's run but by then Trinity Western was down 9-4 and were never able to recover.
The T-Birds continued to roll throughout the set as UBC outhit the Spartans .254 to .000 and took the set by a 12-point margin, 25-13.
In the fourth set, Trinity Western scored the first four points but UBC was not to be held down for long as the T-Birds scored four straight points themselves to knot the set 4-4.
However the Spartans kept up their pace as they built their lead back up to three points at 8-5.
But then, UBC got rolling. The T-Birds went on a 7-0 run that gave the visitors a three-point lead at 12-9 and kept playing the role of aggressor.
It was a see-saw battle from there with several ties and lead changes but UBC finally took the lead for good at 21-20. A couple of late kills from the Spartans Richardson kept it close down the stretch but ultimately the T-Birds hung on for the 25-23 win.
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