VANCOUVER – The No. 7 UBC Thunderbirds men's volleyball team bounced back from a Friday loss to defeat the Thompson Rivers WolfPack 3-1 (25-20, 18-25, 25-17 and 25-23) in Kamloops on Saturday night.
UBC moves to 10-6 on the year while TRU falls to 6-10.
BOX SCORE
“We really stuck to a plan and I thought we fought harder, much harder than last night,” said UBC head coach
Richard Schick.
The T-Birds closed out the match with a fourth set win but needed a comeback to do so.
Down 16-12, UBC scored six of the next seven points to take the lead. The two teams battled down the stretch before the T-Birds pulled out the victory on a kill from
Ben Chow (Surrey, BC).
In the third set, UBC held just a slim 14-12 advantage before going on a 7-1 run to effectively take the set.
Down early in the second game, the Thunderbirds closed their deficit to 18-16 before dropping seven of the next nine points.
UBC opened the match by going up 7-1 but saw TRU the opening game at 10-10. The two teams were knotted four more times before a late surge gave the T-Birds the set.
Outside hitter
Jarrid Ireland (Winnipeg, MB) led UBC with 12 kills in 33 opportunities, while Chow had 11 kills.
“Tonight, we had much better focus and fight on our team and belief in each other for one and belief in what we're trying to do so,” said Schick, who also praised the work of his middles.
“They have been a workhorse for us all year,” he said. “TRU struggled a little bit on the outside tonight. Their middles stepped up but our guys have been there all year for us.”
Alex Russell (Surrey, BC) had four solo blocks and five block assists. Setter
Milan Nikic (Calgary, AB) had 34 assists while
Ian Perry (Abbotsford, BC) had 13 digs.
"We expect to play well all the time and we're just now realizing how tough it is to always have that expectation to play well and then to execute," said Schick.
UBC will return home to face UBC Okanagan next weekend.
- with files from Larry Read (Thompson Rivers Sports Information)
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