VANCOUVER - The drive for five has officially begun, as the UBC Thunderbirds downed the Trinity Western Spartans 3-0 (25-17. 25-12. 25-20) in the Canada West semi-finals on Friday at War Memorial Gym, earning a spot in the CIS tournament where they will be looking for a fifth straight national title.
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The T-Birds will also play the winner of tonight's Winnipeg-Alberta semifinal in the Canada West championship game tomorrow.
The 'Birds and Spartans went blow for blow for the first half of the first set up until a block by Kelci French tied the game up at 14. On the next point, UBC's
Lisa Barclay hammered a big kill to get the 'Birds back in the lead and put herself on the service line.
She made the most of that opportunity, racking up three aces and giving the Spartans fits in the passing game to help the 'Birds put together a 7-0 run and take control of the set.
"I think we did the key things we needed to, and we played really well as a group, especially after it was 14 all in that first set," said UBC head coach
Doug Reimer. "We joke with our staff that we wouldn't want to have to pass our team's serves. Probably four or five players came in and did a tremendous job at some point on the service line."
The Spartans struggled with their serve-receive all night which put the whole team in trouble on both sides of the ball. Offensively, they were held to a -.034 hitting percentage in the game, while defensively they couldn't slow down the 'Birds at all after the first set.
UBC hit .519 in a dominant second set, and despite a 5-0 Spartan run in the third set the 'Birds recovered and went on a 7-1 run of their own, helped out by a pair of
Kyla Richey aces and four blocks in the frame.
Alicia Perrin made it interesting with three late kills to bring the Spartans within striking distance at the end of the third, but then UBC middle
Jessica von Schilling took over, with three of her five kills and two of her 10 blocks coming late in the third set.
"That's a tough match to come in and play well in after a week off," said Reimer, whose squad had a bye in the first round of playoffs as the top team in Canada West. "Very pleased and very grateful that we qualified and have a chance to go back to the national championships. That's the goal and you've got to get there, so to be the first team out of Canada West to do that is great. There's always a bit of relief to get that done."
The T-Birds had 12 blocks as a team, led by von Schilling's monster effort that included two solo blocks.
Newly-crowned Canada West MVP Richey led the way in kills with 12 on .409 hitting, adding two aces and a pair of blocks.
Shanice Marcelle had nine kills, and Barclay finished with eight.
Royal Richardson led the Spartans with six kills but was one of four players held to a negative hitting percentage by the tough UBC block. Perrin had five kills and four blocks in the loss.
With three spots in the CIS tournament available to the Canada West teams, the Spartans now face a must-win bronze medal game tomorrow against the loser of Winnipeg-Alberta. The bronze medalist, along with the two conference finalists, will head to McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario for the CIS tournament beginning March 2.
The bronze medal game goes on Saturday at 6:15 p.m, followed by the Final Four host T-Birds in the gold medal game at 8 p.m. Both contests are at War Memorial Gym.
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