VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds pushed their win streak up to 14 games for the season and 39 overall with a 3-0 win (25-10, 25-16, 25-21) in Kelowna against the UBC Okanagan Heat on Saturday.
Just like they did in game one against the Heat on Friday, the Thunderbirds came out of the gate red-hot to set the tone on the road. After falling behind 4-2 in the first set they took off on a massive 13-0 run on
Rosie Schlagintweit's serve which essentially ended the set before it really got started. They cruised to an easy 25-10 win, hitting .323 as a team while holding UBCO to -.121 hitting, with
Alissa Coulter's six kills on 12 attacks leading the offence.Â
The T-Birds went up 6-1 to start set two, and although the Heat battled back to make it close at 11-10 UBC, the defending champs found another gear and finished the frame on a 14-6 run for another easy win.Â
A 4-0 mini-run gave the 'Birds yet another solid start in set three, but the Heat were finally able to come all the way back and tie that set up to make it the only close one of the match. The T-Birds led by just two to four points for the rest of the set, but they allowed absolutely nothing easy all night on defence, holding the Heat to a -.038 hitting percentage for the match.
Coulter did a nice job handling an unusually heavy workload for UBC, as she led all players with 35 attacks and 10 kills, giving Schlagintweit and
Lisa Barclay a bit of a break. UBC's big guns on the outside still made their presence known though, as Schlagintweit had a match-high 16 digs to go with nine kills and her great serving, while Barclay also added a very efficient nine kills on .318 hitting.
Middle blocker
Mariah Bruinsma had another great outing for the 'Birds as well, with two more service aces to give her eight for the weekend, as well as eight block assists and one solo block.
Kaitlynn Given led the Heat with six kills, but she was one of many UBCO players to finish with a negative hitting percentage. Middle blocker Katy Klomps was the bright spot of the day for the Heat, with four kills on just nine attacks to go with five block assists.
The Heat fall back to third place in the conference at 10-4, with Brandon jumping ahead of them at 11-3. Things don't get a whole lot easier for them next weekend either, as they head to Langley to take on Trinity Western.
UBC stays unbeaten at 14-0 with a tight grip on first place in the Canada West standings. They also face another tough test next week, as the new occupants of second place, the Brandon Bobcats, will pay a visit to War Memorial Gym looking to stop the defending champs' win streak before it hits 40 matches.
UBC and Brandon play at 6 p.m. on January 17 and 5 p.m. on January 18 at War Memorial Gym.
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