VANCOUVER - In front of a lively crowd at War Memorial Gym, UBC shutout Winnipeg in their home opener to improve to 3-0 on the season.
 
The Thunderbird offence proved to be too much for the Wesman to handle, with UBC firing almost 50 kills and a 0.273 hitting percentage to take the match in three straight sets (25-15, 26-24, and 25-21).
 
Danielle Brisebois and Siobhan Finan came up big for the 'Birds, finishing with a combined 26.5 points for UBC. Brisebois continued her relentless attack this year with 13 kills, a 0.385 hitting percentage and chipped in a team-high 6 digs. The leftie hitter Finan racked up 11 kills and added 2 blocks for the Thunderbirds.


 
After a 25-15 win in the first, it was a tight finish to the second set as an Emily Cicon block put UBC up 24-21 – but the Wesman fought off two set points before Brisebois got her 6^th kill of the night to give the T-Birds their second game point. Victoria Behie closed out the set with her second of 8 kills in the victory.
 
UBC fell behind in the third set, but clawed back at 18-18 to force a Winnipeg time-out. Two thundering Brisebois kills gave the 'Birds a 24-21 lead before a Wesman miss sealed their fate.
 
"Even though score-wise it was tight, I never really felt anxious on the court," said Finan "so I think when it came to 24-24 in the second set, we thought 'Oh, just two more points. We can do that.'"
 
Winnipeg's Karissa Kuhr led the way for the Wesman with 9 kills and a 25% hitting percentage in the loss.


 
Finan feels there are a few things to tweak moving forward.
 
"When we throw different people into the match, we just need to keep our same calm confidence as a group and put more of a gap between us and them."
 
UBC Head Coach Doug Reimer agreed.
 
"We got a little sloppy and in the second set we made a number of changes. We're going to have to grow through that. What wasn't good was letting so many points slip away – it shouldn't have been that close."
 
Heading into the second half of the double header Saturday at 5 pm, Reimer is holding his players accountable.
 
"The challenge tomorrow is more individual, how will they take ownership?"