The University of British Columbia Athletics

Vancouver – After two sets of domination by the CIS No. 1 UBC Thunderbirds, the Alberta Pandas stormed back to win three straight nail-biters and take game one of their regular season finale series 3-2 (16-25, 21-25, 27-25, 29-27, 15-11) in Edmonton.
 
The T-Birds scored more total points, outhit their opponents .212 to .175 and outblocked them seven to six, but the Pandas managed to win when it counted most, including fighting off two potential match-point situations in the fourth. In the fifth, UBC seemed to run out of gas a bit, committing seven errors in the set, including five attack errors on the last nine Alberta points.
 
Second-year outside hitter Meg Casault led the Pandas' impressive comeback effort with 23 kills and 17 digs. She also had a solo block and two block assists. She had three big kills early in the fifth to get things rolling for the Pandas.
 
Two other outside hitters made it to double digits in kills for the Pandas. Kacey Otto also had a strong two-way game, with 10 kills, including the match-winner, and 12 digs. Karly Janssen had 11 kills and hit .281 to lead that trio of hitters.
 
Lisa Barclay had another monster game for the T-Birds, with 27 kills on .317 hitting. She also had three aces at the service line and 13 digs. It wasn't enough to get UBC a tough win, but it should help her secure the regular season conference kills title. She entered the match averaging 4.10 kills per set, just 0.01 off the Canada West leader.
 
Rosie Schlagintweit had 18 kills and 18 digs for UBC. Libero Briana Liau Kent was all over the court defensively, racking up 22 digs. Kirsty Setterlund had 58 assists, 13 digs and three kills.
 
UBC falls to 18-3, but will still host the Canada West Final Four in two weeks, regardless of the outcome of Saturday's match. Alberta moves up to 12-9, but they won't be able to finish higher than fifth or lower than sixth in the standings, so they will be on the road next week for round one either way.
 
The T-Birds and Pandas play the regular season finale on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
 
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