VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds moved a step closer to a home court playoff series with a 3-0 win (25-17, 25-19, 25-23) over the Mount Royal Cougars on Friday night at War Memorial Gym.
The win moves UBC to 14-7 on the year, one game up on fifth-place Manitoba, who lost to Saskatchewan on Friday. The tiebreaker is based on total sets won and lost for the year, so their 2-0 advantage in the head-to-head series counts for nothing, but a win for the 'Birds tomorrow would guarantee no worse than a fourth-place finish and home court for the first round of playoffs.
They could also move up to third place depending on how the final day of action shakes out, but head coach
Richard Schick says his team is concerned only with how they are playing, and not who they will be up against next week.
“Everybody's been trying to do the math on what could happen with the standings, but what I've told the guys is just to stay focused on what we have to do. We don't really care who we play, we just want to play here,” Schick said. “We want to win tomorrow and whether it's in straight sets or we scrap it out in five, we just want to get it done.”
The T-Birds came at the Cougars from all angles on Friday, using five different attackers almost evenly on their way to a sparkling .423 team hitting percentage.
Jarrid Ireland and
Ben Chow each hit well over .400 with 10 kills apiece.
David Zeyha added another seven kills off the outside, and middles
Alex Russell and
Chris Howe chipped in seven and six kills respectively.
But behind any good volleyball attack is a savvy setter, and sophomore floor general
Milan Nikic was on top of his game Friday. He dished out 36 assists to keep all his attackers happy, and added a couple key blocks and two kills.
“That balance in the attack is up to your setter. That's nothing that I said. He just distributed the ball around really well,” Schick said of Nikic. “He's been working on some things the last couple weeks that really came together for him tonight, which was nice to see.”
The T-Birds had a great night at the service line, racking up eight aces and keeping the Cougars out of system for much of the match. Chow led the way with three aces, and Ireland and Zeyha each had two.
Colton deMan was the workhorse for the Cougars, leading all players with 14 kills on .440 hitting, and his five digs and four blocks were also team-highs.
Dan Durham had six kills for the Cougars, including several late in the third set to make it a tight one down the stretch, but the T-Birds simply didn't allow the Cougars to go on any lengthy scoring runs, siding out at 78 per cent for the match.
The loss drops Mount Royal to 8-13 on the season, eliminating them from playoff contention.
The teams square off again tomorrow to wrap up the regular season. UBC will also be honouring Zeyha, the T-Birds' lone graduating player, in a pre-match ceremony. The match is slated for a 7 p.m. start.
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