EDMONTON - The No. 8 UBC Thunderbirds men's volleyball team dropped the first match of the best-of-three Canada West Men's Quarter-Final series against the No. 4 Alberta Golden Bears in three sets (25-20, 25-17, 25-28) on Friday night.
"We did stat decently but again had errors or didn't make plays when we really needed it," said UBC head coach
Richard Schick. "Our first contact really let us down tonight (serving and passing) which didn't give us a chance even though we battled hard at times. We will be making adjustments in those two aspects of the game so we assure we have success tomorrow and are playing on Sunday."
On this night, Mitch Irvine was the star for the Golden Bears as the native of Red Deer, Alberta, led all hitters with 13 kills while adding 13 digs defensively. Third-year setter Jarron Mueller registered 28 assists in the win.
UBC outside hitter
Jarrid Ireland pounded ten balls, while
Robert Bennett added eight kills and five digs in a losing effort.
The Thunderbirds fell behind early in the first set 16-9, as the team fell victim to defensive miscues.
But UBC was able to pull off a 9-4 run, powered three kills from Ireland and two from Bennett, to close to 20-18.
Still the host Bears were able to close out the first set, 25-20.
Impressive defensive play on both sides of the net defined the second set, as the Bears and T-Birds both managed to dig up 18 attacks.
Blocking was the difference as the home team rejected 6.5 hitting attempts to the visitors' two. The Bears' ability to put together two impressive runs, one 5-0 and another 10-3, put them ahead for good to take the set 25-17.
In the third set, Alberta's offense continued to roll, out-hitting the visitors 14-7 as the Bears clinched the victory.
"Alberta played well but we can play much better and need our guys to have more 'complete' games," said Schick. "Tonight some of us were just a little too one dimensional and that won't cut it against any team, let alone Alberta."
Game two of the playoff series goes tomorrow night in Edmonton, with the first serve at 6:30 p.m. UBC will need to win to keep its season alive.
- with files from By Marcus Miller (Alberta Sports Information)
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