HAMILTON, ON – A solid blocking effort propelled the second-seeded, and four-time defending champion UBC Thunderbirds to a 3-0 (25-19, 25-19 and 25-16) victory over the Queen's Gaels in the first round of the CIS women's volleyball championships in Hamilton, Ontario.
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"I was really pleased with our blocking," said UBC head coach
Doug Reimer after the game. "I thought we set a good tone even with the first points. A lot of people did well."
UBC recorded ten total team blocks, compared to three for Queen's, and held the Gaels to an attack percentage of -0.20.
Despite this, Queen's kept up for most of the match with the more experienced national champions.
The Gaels trailed only 9-7 in the third set but saw UBC, powered by three kills from
Shanice Marcelle (4th, Victoria, BC), go on an 8-2 spurt that paved the way to a Thunderbird win in the set and match.
The first two sets played out in a similar fashion, with UBC up 16-14 going into the technical timeout, and then building their lead to capture the set.
"I think we cleaned up a few things," said Reimer on how his team closed out the first two sets. "In the first set, we made it tougher for them to side out. In the second, I think we served the ball better down the stretch and we just had a few less unforced errors."
An 8-1 Thunderbird run coming out of the technical timeout in the second set allowed UBC to eventually to take the game, 25-19. Several late Queen's errors, including an out-of-rotation call, made the deficit too large for the Gaels to close.
In the opening set, the Gaels got to within one point of UBC (18-17) after a Queen's serve clipped the net and fell over on the T-Bird side of the floor.
But UBC immediately rolled off a 4-0 run, capped off by a
Brina Derksen-Bergen (4th, Abbotsford, BC) service ace, to regain control of the set.
"I don't think we started serving very well, we made five misses in each of the first two sets and that was a little high given the fact we weren't serving rockets all the time," said Reimer. "But it got better and I think we can draw a fair bit of confidence from this, coming into this facility again tomorrow to be stronger."
Jessica von Schilling (3rd, Victoria, BC) was the best of the UBC blockers.
She had one solo block and added five block assists, while
Briana Liau Kent (3rd, Vancouver, BC) recorded 11 digs for the Thunderbirds.
Kyla Richey (5th, Roberts Creek, BC) led UBC with eight kills, while Marcelle chipped in with seven.
Becky Billings racked up nine kills for Queen's, which will play Trinity Western in a consolation game on Saturday at 10 a.m.
UBC now advances to a semi-final matchup against Montreal, which will start at 3 p.m..
The match will be broadcast live on the
Sports Streaming Network and
CiTR 101.9 FM.
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