VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds' season ended in Alberta on Saturday with a 3-0 loss (25-14, 26-24, 25-20) to the No.1 Alberta Golden Bears in the Canada West bronze medal game.
"Tonight wasn't indicative of the volleyball we had been playing up to this point and throughout this season," said UBC head coach
Richard Schick. "We came a long wau as a team, as a group and as a program this season. I'm extremely proud of what we were able to accomplish this year. We just weren't able to punch the final ticket. It was a very special year and I want to thank everybody for their support."
With only one spot in the CIS tournament available, Canada West Final Four host Alberta came out desperate for redemption after being upset by Brandon last night. They jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the first set, and the defence took care of the rest, holding UBC to a .000 hitting percentage in the first set and just .133 in the match.
Set two was an extremely close affair that saw the teams separated by two points or less from front to back, but Canada West MVP Mitch Irvine and Ryley Barnes heated up late to push Alberta to a 2-0 lead.
UBC finally took a lead early in the third, going up 6-2 before the Bears came charging back with an 8-4 run to pull even at 14. From there, Alberta steadily pulled away from the 'Birds, ending the match on another Irvine kill.
Ben Chow led UBC with 10 kills, but his partners on the outside,
Jarrid Ireland and
David Zeyha, had a tough time getting past the Alberta defence. UBC did get some good production out of the middle, with
Alex Russell and
Chris Howe combining for 11 kills on efficient hitting, but it wasn't enough to keep up with Alberta's two-headed monster of Irvine and Jay Olmstead, who each had 13 kills and hit over .300.
Alberta also won the blocking battle 10-8 over UBC, with Matt McCreary's seven blocks setting the pace.
Canada West all-star setter
Milan Nikic had 30 assists, four digs and two blocks. Russell had four and Howe had three for UBC.
Alberta moves on to the CIS tournament, along with fellow Canada West representatives Trinity Western and Brandon.
For UBC, the season ends with a 15-7 regular season record, 25-13 overall. The 'Birds went 2-2 in playoff action.
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