SHERBROOKE, Que. – With a national title and history on the line, the UBC Thunderbirds executed with precision, winning the 2013 CIS women's volleyball championship in straight sets 3-0 (25-13, 25-23, 25-18) over the Alberta Pandas on Saturday afternoon at the Université de Sherbrooke's Univestrie Pavilion.
“The first set, we really set a great tone,” said UBC head coach
Doug Reimer. “We served the ball well and kept them off balance. We blocked as well as we have in a long time. I thought all our hitters were ready to go, especially Shanice and Lisa. We tightened up a couple of the areas we struggled with in the last couple of days, especially the passing.”
UBC claims its sixth consecutive CIS championship, tying the all-time record held by Alberta (1995-2000) led by current coach Laurie Eisler and Winnipeg (1983-88). The team accomplished this historic feat in Sherbrooke, which was also the site of Winnipeg's 1988 win.
WVB: T-Birds v. Alberta (Mar. 2, 2013) Gallery
Overall, this is the school's 10th national banner, three more than Alberta and Winnipeg. The Thunderbirds finish the season on a 25-game winning streak. The team won nine sets at the tournament and lost just one.
“One thing I'm always going to remember is, frankly, how easy they made this year for me by coming to training every day and working hard and doing their jobs and same thing when we went to play,” said Reimer of his players. “It was just really a pleasure to watch them play. I think we played really well today and that just reinforces the overall feeling I've had about this group day in and day out. You only hope it can finish this year and I'm just thrilled that it has.”
The championship game was a rematch of last year's final, when UBC had to overcome a two sets to one deficit before edging the Pandas 15-12 in the fifth. The T-Birds made it clear from the start that they didn't want the 2013 title match to be that close and cruised to victory in just over an hour.
Lisa Barclay, a third-year outside hitter from Brandon, Man., was named tournament MVP for the second straight season. She was accompanied on the all-tournament team by teammates
Shanice Marcelle and
Brina Derksen-Bergen, two seniors who wrapped up their university career with a fifth gold medal.
Danielle Richards is the other UBC player who won her fifth title on Saturday.
Marcelle, who earlier this week was voted CIS player of the year for the second time in three campaigns, accomplished a rare feat with her fifth straight selection as a CIS championship all-star, including MVP honours in 2011.
“I just feel really special and I know that a lot of people contributed to this so I'm very grateful for everyone that helped me along the way,” said Derksen-Bergen.
Barclay tallied a game-high 16 kills – and 18.5 points - while committing only two attacking errors for a remarkable efficiency of .538. The 6-foot-2 junior also chipped in defensively with nine digs.
Marcelle had 11 kills, five digs and four blocks, while fellow Victoria, B.C. native
Jessica von Schilling racked up 13.5 points on five service aces, three kills and three solo blocks en route to UBC game-MVP honours. She knocked down the championship-clinching point for UBC.
Krista Zubick was the most productive Panda in a losing cause with nine kills and 10.5 points.
UBC dominated from the first serve. A von Schilling block made it 13-5 for the Thunderbirds, who kept rolling, eventually building their lead to 21-7. Derksen-Bergen was effective in spreading the ball all over the court while also contributing with timely setter's dumps.
The T-Birds were nearly unstoppable in the first set, maintaining an attack efficiency of .542 as a team.
Alberta rebounded with a much better effort in the second frame and was ahead 14-12 before seeing its Canada West rivals mount a comeback to take a commanding two-set lead.
At 23-23, Alberta dumped a serve into the net to give UBC set point, which was quickly converted.
The third stanza was never really in doubt as the UBC jumped out to a quick 8-4 lead and never looked back. The team continued to control play at the net and were ahead 18-10 before closing out the match to commence the on-court celebrations.
Rounding out the all-tournament squad was Alberta's Jaki Ellis, Trinity Western teammates Amy Ott and Kelci French, as well as Ottawa's Karina Krueger Schwanke. A three-time all-Canadian setter, Ellis was wearing the Pandas jersey for the final time.
Zubick received the R.W. Pugh Fair Play Award.
Next year's CIS championship will be held at the University of Regina from February 28 to March 2.
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