EDMONTON — The UBC Thunderbirds (6-3) never looked back from the middle of the second set onward, cruising to a comfortable 3-0 (26-24, 25-16, 25-16) win over the MacEwan Griffins (3-8) on Friday night at the City Centre Campus gym.
 
"The setter (Alessandra Gentile) did a good job with the offensive balance," said UBC head coach Doug Reimer, whose team improves to 6-3 on the campaign. "I think we passed well enough. I thought MacEwan did a good job as well. I thought they defended hit balls well, but we got a second crack at it, so that helped our offensive variety."
 
Danielle Brisebois led the Thunderbirds with 13 kills on an impressive .500 hitting percentage, adding a team-leading eight digs and five aces. Although many of her kills overwhelmed the Griffins, she even got some luck like in the third set when she whiffed on a smash from the back row that turned into a perfect tip over the block.
 
Siobhan Finan and Emily Cicon added six kills each for the T-Birds.


 
Kate Rozendaal replied with a big game for the Griffins with 12 kills on a.360 percentage, adding seven digs.
 
The Griffins probably deserved a better fate in the first set. At the very least it was winnable, but UBC got the late points when it mattered, scoring a 26-24 win when Cassidy Kinsella's smash, intended to go off the block, went wide of the court instead.
 
"The first set we were struggling defensively … giving up too many easy points," said Reimer, whose team found their stride after netting the opening game. "We tightened that up a little bit, but mainly our offence started to run a little bit more smoothly. It's always a combination, but some better serving from us – some serving runs that we didn't give away – so we kept putting more pressure on MacEwan."


 
Prolonged strings of errors – a problem that plagued MacEwan, particularly early in the season – snuck into the Griffins' game in the second set. The first nine points were played dead even before UBC went off on a 5-0 run on a series of mistakes from the home side. The visitors led 16-10 at the technical timeout after a MacEwan net violation and cruised to a 25-16 win, clinched on a missed MacEwan serve.
 
It just didn't seem like MacEwan had the fortitude left to come back as UBC seemingly scored at will at times in the third set, mixing in a great combination of hits from all sides. It added up to them cruising to a 25-16 win, closed out when Haley Gilfillan - who had held court for three straight serves – put her offering into the net.
 
The two teams will re-match tomorrow afternoon at 4:00pm (PST).