VANCOUVER - The No. 5-ranked UBC Thunderbirds (11-2) dropped their second match of the 2015-16 Canada West season on Friday evening at War Memorial Gym, falling in four sets to the visiting Brandon University Bobcats (6-9).
 
The scores were 16-25, 25-15, 27-25, 25-22 in favour of the visitors.
 
Three 'Birds got into double digits in kills, as Victoria Behie (Nanaimo, B.C.) paced the team with 14, while Laura MacTaggart (Lacombe, Alta.) notched 12, and Alissa Coulter (Calgary) picked up 11. For Brandon, left side Shanlee McLennan was the catalyst on offense, leading the way with 12 kills.
 
With veterans Danielle Brisebois (Bolton, Ont.) and Juliana Kaufmanis (Richmond, B.C.) out of the lineup, and coming off of a two-month hiatus from Canada West league play, the 'Birds were in tough against the Bobcats from the get go.
 
Brandon jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the opening set, catching the host T-Birds off-guard. The Thunderbirds quickly recovered, and got kills from four separate players as they ripped off seven straight points to go up 7-2.
 
After the 'Birds had stretched their lead out to 13-4, Brandon did well to stem the tide, scoring five of the next eight points. The Bobcats' run brought the score to 16-9 for UBC at the technical timeout.
 
Brandon's continued pressure helped the Bobcats close the gap to just four points, trailing UBC 19-15, forcing UBC head coach Doug Reimer to call a timeout.
 
Whatever Reimer said seemed to work, as UBC reeled off six of the next seven points to take the first set 25-16, with the highlight-reel moment of the opening frame coming off the hands of MacTaggart, who finished a minute-long rally with a wicked smash down the right sideline.
 
MacTaggart also led the hosts' attack in the opening frame, picking up six kills. Coulter and Nicole Laniuk (Surrey, B.C.) each racked up three of their own, while Brandon was paced by McLennan's three.
 
The 'Birds found themselves in trouble in the early going of set two, as some adjustments from Brandon, as well as a few untimely errors helped the visitors jump out to a 12-5 lead. Again, Reimer called a timeout.
 
This time, UBC wasn't able to recover from the early deficit, eventually dropping the second set 25-15.  
 
Brandon piled up 12 kills in the second stanza, with middle Jodie Baker's three leading the pack. For the 'Birds, Behie's four kills showed off the sophomore's impressive power, but weren't enough to drag the 'Birds to a set win.
 
After dropping the second set, and falling into a 5-1 early in the third, UBC showed some impressive resiliency to post five straight points, tying it up at 5-5. The two teams went back-and-forth for a bit, until the 'Birds found a little breathing room midway through the frame, heading into the technical timeout up 16-13.
 
That lead was short-lived, as the Bobcats rallied yet again, and soon had equalized at 17-17.
 
Tied 20-20, McLennan and Coulter traded kills, before three costly Bobcat errors, including a net violation, gave UBC a 24-21 advantage. With the set on the line, Brandon showed off their own moxie, clawing back to equalize 24-24.
 
A Coulter kill, followed by a UBC service error brought the game to 25-25, before kills from McLennan and Gillian Leech gave the Bobcats the 27-25 decision, and a 2-1 set advantage.
 
The T-Birds came out in the fourth set with some fire, and they blazed out to a 6-1 lead off the opening whistle.
 
Again, Brandon showed no signs of wilting under pressure, quickly evening up the score at 9-9.
 
Neither team could get separation in the latter portion of the frame, as a two-point margin was the largest gap in either direction, as the Bobcats and T-Birds battled to a 21-21 tie.
 
From there, though, Brandon seemed to find another gear, getting four of the next five points to seal the set and match, with the final dagger in the 25-22 loss coming off a service error from Laniuk.
 
"Obviously, we're pretty disappointed with the result," said Reimer after the contest. "I guess I'm not overly shocked – a long break since league play, and we had a few changes, with key pieces out of the lineup, but I don't think we can excuse our performance that way. In reality, there were far too many errors, and we failed to adapt to what Brandon did."
 
As for tomorrow, Reimer's plan is simple.
 
"We've got watch film, and break it down, but more importantly, we have to have the self-belief that we can be a lot better."
 
The 'Birds will get a chance to show off that self-belief at 4:00 p.m. (PT) tomorrow,  Saturday, January 16, as they face Brandon in the second half of the two-game series.