WINNIPEG – The No. 4-ranked UBC Thunderbirds women's volleyball team (10-3) bested the Manitoba Bisons (6-7) 3-1 on Friday night, claiming the first half of the back-to-back set between the two clubs.
 
T-Birds senior outside hitter Danielle Brisebois led both teams with 17 kills, while Tori Studler had 10 for Manitoba. Alessandra Gentile and Courtney Kowk put up 45 and 31 assists for the Thunderbirds and Bisons, respectively.
 


Both teams came out strong in the first, which was peppered with short rallies. The Bisons and Thunderbirds combined for six aces in the opening set alone (four for UBC, two for Manitoba). The visitors came out of the technical timeout up 16-13 before kicking off a few multi-rally streaks and eventually closing out the set 25-18 on an Emily Cicon kill.
 
The 'Birds broke away midway through the second stanza, after two kills and an ace gave them a 14-10 lead. But the Bisons responded right away, winning five consecutive rallies – two on Studler kills – to pull ahead 15-14. Manitoba held on to the lead for most of the final rallies and won the second 25-21 after a UBC attack landed out of bounds.
 
The T-Birds jumped out to an early 9-0 lead in the third – and forced two Manitoba timeouts – before the home side earned their first point of the set on a Gentile service error. The Bisons' offence put up four more points before the Thunderbirds jumped on another rally streak to get ahead 19-5, and Manitoba couldn't recover. UBC dominated the rest of the set, which they won 25-9.
 
The fourth started out as a close contest. Manitoba trailed UBC by only three points at the technical timeout, but then the Thunderbirds took off. The home side gave up five rally points in a row and only managed three points for the rest of the set before the visitors took it 25-16 and the game 3-1.
 
The teams finish up their two-game weekend set on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. PT at Investors Group Athletic Centre