LANGLEY, B.C. – No. 6-ranked UBC took an early lead and never allowed the No. 3 Trinity Western Spartans to find their rhythm as the Thunderbirds cruised to a convincing 3-0 (25-17, 25-11, 25-15) win in the final match of the regular season for both teams Saturday at the Langley Events Centre.

With UBC hitting .500 as a team throughout the match and the Spartans only earning two blocks, the Thunderbirds were dominant in all three sets en route to the victory.

The loss drops TWU to 20-4 on the season and will see the Spartans finish third overall in the Canada West standings. The Spartans will now open the playoffs at home against Thompson Rivers in the Canada West Quarter-Finals. UBC improved to 17-7 on the season and will now host Brandon in the Canada West Quarter-Finals. Games 1 and 2 will be played Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. PT, while a third match, if necessary, will take place Sunday at 2 p.m.

Danielle Brisebois (Bolton, Ont.) led UBC with 14 kills and just one error while hitting .684. Alissa Coulter (Calgary), in her final regular season contest as a T-Bird, added nine kills with just one error while Juliana Kaufmanis (Richmond, B.C.) had nine kills with just two errors. Setter Alessandra Gentile (Port Moody, B.C.) had a match-high 32 assists.

For the Spartans, Elly Wendel led the way offensively with 13 kills. TWU setter Nikki Cornwall had 25 assists.

As a team, TWU hit just .102 and had just two service aces to UBC's seven.  

The T-Birds took an early lead in the first set and held control throughout, going up 19-10 before cruising to an eight-point win. Kaufmanis, Coulter and Brisebois each had four kills to lead UBC to a .500 attacking percentage in the first set.

The second set saw more of the same from the visitors as UBC built an 18-8 lead before running away for a 25-11 win. The T-Birds hit .684 as a team and didn't commit a single attacking error in the set, with Brisebois leading the way with seven kills on nine attempts. Wendel countered with five kills for TWU, but the Spartans were held to a .065 hitting percentage.

The Spartans, who entered the match averaging a conference-best 2.82 blocks per set, were held without a block through two sets.

The T-Birds continued to roll in the third set. They took an 18-9 lead and were in full control throughout. From there, they took the set 25-15 while hitting .379. Coulter had five kills on five attacks to lead UBC.