VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds put on another dominant performance on Saturday to extend their win streak to 12 games, downing the Winnipeg Wesmen 3-0 (25-14, 25-10, 25-16) at War Memorial Gym.
The Wesmen had no answer for UBC's serving game on Saturday. The 'Birds racked up 12 aces compared to three for Winnipeg, keeping the visitors out of system and unable to find a rhythm offensively.
“We kept them out of system and did a good job of their primary hitters,” said UBC head coach
Doug Reimer. “They started with some strong energy and played well early in set one, but we were too consistent and took their best stuff away, which took energy away from them.”
Lisa Barclay had the first big serving run to help UBC pull away in a tight first set. The 'Birds scored six straight points on her serve to go up 16-7, and they never looked back.
“Lisa had two good serving runs today, and while it was close for a while in that first set, her serving run in game one really helped us get things going in the right direction,” Reimer said.
Conference kills leader Ozana Nikolic was held in check by the UBC blockers. Her four kills were a team high, and her squad hit -.198 in the match.
UBC had 14 blocks, with Abigail Keeping's nine blocks leading the team. She also had a great serving run in the second set, much like Barclay's first set run, to help UBC build the lead.
Barclay finished with four aces and five kills. Setter
Brina Derksen-Bergen also had four aces and 21 assists on the night.
Shanice Marcelle led UBC with seven kills on .462 hitting.
Reimer distributed the playing time quite evenly across the roster, getting some good contributions from
Alissa Coulter,
Danielle Brisebois and
Begum Pulas off the bench.
Coulter and Brisebois each had three kills and a block, and Pulas added two kills, including one on match point.
UBC remains one game up on Trinity Western for top spot in the conference at 13-1 this year. Winnipeg falls to 4-8 with the loss.
The T-Birds hit the road next weekend for two games at Thompson Rivers University. Their next home series is against UBC Okanagan on January 25 and 26.
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