VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds fought hard but fell in four sets to the Alberta Golden Bears 25-21, 23-25, 22-25, 25-22 at War Memorial Gym for their first loss since late November.
Prior to the opening serve, first-year Thunderbird middle blocker
Jordan Deshane was presented with the Dale Ohman scholarship.
An iconic former UBC volleyball Head Coach and a Volleyball BC Hall of Famer, Ohman continues to give back to the team each year. "It's a little thing I started after I retired. I've got really good support from the athletic department, and the fund has grown steadily every year. It's nice to be able to give out a significant award to a player like Jordan. I met him this summer on the Korean tour…he's really come into his own.
Deshane finished the night with 4 kills, 2 aces and a team-high 6 blocks in the loss.
Irvan Brar lead the T-Bird offence with 12 kills and 4 aces, while
Mat Guidi added 12 kills and 3 digs.
Golden Bear rookie Taryq Sani smacked 13 kills and picked up 6 digs, while Ryan Nickifor had 12 kills and 8 digs in the win.
Alberta's offence hit with a 25.7% success rate, and their defence racked up 40 digs – almost double UBC's tally of 28.
"They did a really good job attacking out-of-system," said UBC Head Coach
Kerry MacDonald. "We definitely had some breakdowns at times tonight but we managed to break their serve-receive. They just swung their way out of it better than we did. I think our defence could be a little bit better. I thought our game-plan was pretty good, but I'll take a look at the video tonight to see what we need to change for tomorrow."
Both sides exchanged blows in a tight first set, and a Brar service run gave the 'Birds a brief 13-12 advantage. One of
Cam Fennema's 9 kills on the night put UBC up 23-20, before Fennema came up with a huge block with
Joel Regehr to take the first set 25-21.
The second set saw the Golden Bears climb ahead 20-16 before the 'Birds drew within one on a missed Sani kill. DeShane stuffed the Alberta attack with a massive block to knot it up at 21-21, and fired a kill to pull into a 23-23 draw. Deshane's serve went long to give the Golden Bears a set point, and they capitalized on a Brett Walsh kill to win the second set 25-23.
Neither team gave an inch in an equally tight third set with the teams dead even at 10-10. After an incredible Brar scramble save with his foot, the 'Birds were unable to salvage the point and the Golden Bears extended their lead by three. The T-Birds turned aside three set points on a Keturakis service run but couldn't complete the comeback, as the setter's serve sailed long to give Alberta a 25-22 win.
UBC was behind 18-11 in the fourth set, but rattled off four straight points to pull within three. The Thunderbirds then erased five set points before an Arran Chambers kill finished the 'Birds off at 25-22 for the match.
With their six-game winning streak over, the T-Birds will look to get back in the win column versus the Golden Bears on Senior's Night Saturday at 6:30 PM (PST).
