VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds put a stop to the UBC Okanagan Heat's six-game win streak with a 3-1 victory (25-20, 25-15, 20-25, 25-18) in Kelowna on Friday night, extending their own unbeaten run to 13 games this season and 38 games overall.
Lisa Barclay led all players with 18 kills, adding three aces and 14 digs, and
Mariah Bruinsma finished with six aces, five blocks and five kills on 10 attacks to lead the T-Birds.
UBC had huge scoring runs early in each of the first two sets to put the Heat on their heels. Bruinsma set them up with a 10-0 lead in the first set on a great serving run that included four aces, and Barclay had three aces during a 9-0 run in the second set that put UBC up 10-2.Â
The Heat hadn't lost a single set in their last six conference matches, but they were unable to dig themselves out of those early holes in the first two sets. They were oublocked 6-0 by the T-Birds in set one, and struggled to get their offence into a rhythm against UBC's tough defence, hitting .088 as a team.
The home side finally got off to a good start in set three, going up 7-3 and holding on to that cushion throughout the frame. The Heat's middles stepped up for six blocks in the set, and Megan Festival racked up four of her 10 kills to lead UBCO to their only set-win of the night.
Set four was tied at 11 when the 'Birds began to pull away thanks to some big production from Barclay and her partner on the outside,
Rosie Schlagintweit. They combined for seven kills down the stretch to help UBC finish on a 9-3 run.
Schlagintweit had 15 kills, six block assists and 11 digs. Second-year outside hitter
Juliana Kaufmanis had eight kills on 15 attacks and a game-high 15 digs.
Festival led the Heat with 10 kills and nine digs. Kaitlynn Given and Katie Wuttnee each had seven kills. The Heat fall to 10-3, now tied for second in the Canada West standings with Brandon.
The T-Birds and Heat finish their weekend series on Saturday, starting at 5 p.m.
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