Vancouver – The UBC Thunderbirds looked better as the night went on in Alberta on Saturday, but couldn't make up for their slow start, losing to the Pandas 3-1 (25-19, 25-18, 22-25, 26-24) in the regular season finale.
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The 'Birds allowed the Pandas to hit over .300 in each of the first sets to fall behind 2-0 before winning the third set and positioning themselves to win the fourth, just like Alberta did on Friday after also falling back 2-0.
But with UBC up 22-18 in the fourth, the Pandas put together a 4-0 run with kills from Kacey Otto, Amy Kowalchuk and Meg Casault, as well as an Otto ace, to tie things up. Every Alberta point after that came off a UBC error, as the home side just outlasted the T-Birds at the end of a long regular season finale series.
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Lisa Barclay had 23 kills to win the Canada West individual kills title for the regular season, and the T-Birds outhit the Pandas in the final two sets after Alberta had its way offensively in the first two.
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But in the end, the Pandas were probably the more motivated team coming into this series, with UBC already having locked up first place, and they certainly played like it. Meg Casault had another excellent two-way game, with 15 kills and 14 digs to set the pace for her side. And setter Mariah Walsh also made an impact in several aspects of the game, racking up 45 assists, 12 digs and four aces.
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Abbey Keeping and
Rosie Schlagintweit each had nine kills for the T-Birds. Schlagintweit also had three aces, eight digs, two solo blocks and two block assists.
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The Pandas finish the season as one of the conference's hottest teams. They have won five straight, including two over the CIS No. 1 T-Birds, to wind up at 13-9. That puts them up against Manitoba on the road for round one.
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The T-Birds finish first at 18-4, but their run has been a little rockier down the stretch, having lost four of their last eight. They will have the benefit of the bye week though to sort things out and get rested up for the Canada West Final Four, which they will host at War Memorial Gym on Friday, February 21 and Saturday, February 22.
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