VANCOUVER – The No. 1 UBC Thunderbirds gave their home fans a rare treat on Friday, battling the No. 6 Manitoba Bisons in the first Canada West regular season match at War Memorial Gym to go five sets in almost five years, eventually taking down the visitors 3-2 (28-26, 20-25, 25-17, 15-25, 15-13).
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BOX SCORE
In the end it was a stellar serving run by
Mariah Bruinsma and a huge effort on the block that made the difference for UBC. After falling behind 7-3 in the fifth, Bruinsma stepped up to the service line and led the 'Birds on a 7-0 run that included two aces and three UBC blocks – two of which Bruinsma assisted on.
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"Our blocking keyed it, and some of that came off our serving," UBC head coach
Doug Reimer said of the comeback. "I think it was just about the team that had the best serving run at the end. That serve-to-block stuff is very important and that's an area we did well in last weekend, and we need it more consistently than we had tonight."
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The six-time defending national champion T-Birds haven't been pushed at home like that in the regular season very often in recent years. In fact it was the first time they've gone to five sets at War Memorial in a regular season game since another 3-2 victory over Manitoba back on January 23, 2009.
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But Reimer was hardly shocked at the close margin of victory, given the quality of opponent they were dealing with.
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"I'm not surprised at all, because Manitoba is a really good team. It's early in the season too and good for us to get pushed. Frankly, we're probably going to have to claw out a few wins like that, starting tomorrow night."
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Both teams had some peaks and valleys in their performance on Friday, with the first set being the only really tightly contested one until the fifth. The Bisons looked to be in control of the first, up 19-15, but the 'Birds fought back and eventually took the lead 23-21 after another great job at the service line by Bruinsma to take them on a 5-0 run.
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"The big points for us tonight were hanging in to win the first set after we were down, and then being behind 6-1 and 7-3 in the fifth but beating them to eight points on Mariah's serving run," said Reimer. "Consistency of play wasn't there, but the top end both for us and Manitoba was pretty good for this time of year."
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After UBC lost 25-15 in the fourth, and then fell behind 6-1 in the fifth, it looked like another long regular season home court streak might fall. The 'Birds haven't lost a regular season home game since a 3-1 defeat against Trinity Western on October 30, 2010.
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But the big serving and blocking turnaround in the fifth, coupled with the one-two punch of
Lisa Barclay and
Rosie Schlagintweit on the outside, was too much for the Bisons to deal with in the end. UBC outblocked Manitoba 17-12 with 10 aces. Schlagintweit led all players with 19 kills, and Barclay had 18.
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"We need to pass the ball a little better in bigger chunks of the match, so we have some room to grow with our offence still, but both Rosie and Lisa are looking great in terms of velocity and hitting at good angles," said Reimer.
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Taylor Pischke led the Bisons with 18 kills on .309 hitting, adding 1-0 digs. Rachel Cockrell had 11 kills, four aces, one solo block and five block assists.
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The T-Birds improve to 3-0, while Manitoba falls to 2-1 on the year. These teams get back at it on Saturday to wrap up the series. That match starts at 5 p.m.
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