WINNIPEG, MB – The #6 UBC Thunderbirds are the Canada West Men's Volleyball Final Four bronze medalists, after a straight-set win (25-20, 25-19, 25-18) over the #4 University of Alberta Golden Bears at Investors Group Athletic Centre on Saturday evening.
UBC landed in the game after a 3-0 semi-final loss to the University of Manitoba Bisons on Friday night. Alberta lost 3-2 Friday in a hard-fought semi-final match against the Trinity Western University Spartans.
"It feels great," Thunderbirds head coach
Kerry MacDonald said after the win. "It's a good bounce-back match after what was a tough one for us yesterday against the U of M, so it was great to see the guys come out tonight and really respond."
"This group has been a really committed, really dedicated group. Kind of steady improvement every week has been our motto all year. After last night, I think we were really questioning if we had been getting better, but I think tonight we showed what we're capable of. I'm really happy with how the guys performed."
Third-year setter
Byron Keturakis was named player of the match for UBC.
"I thought his serving and setting were exceptional tonight," MacDonald said. "They could have given the player of the match to any number of our guys, but he was well-deserving of it."
The closely fought opening set saw a total seven service errors, as both UBC and Alberta struggled to gain a solid footing. Alex McMullin and Arran Chambers each notched two kills in the opening rallies to help the Golden Bears to an early 6-4 lead, but the Thunderbirds were just getting warmed up.
UBC won the next four rallies in a row and was up by a modest 16-12 at the technical timeout. Alberta repeatedly brought the set within a single point, but the Golden Bears never regained the lead, and UBC took the first 25-20.
The Thunderbird offence was relentless in the next set. UBC again led 16-12 at the technical timeout and later took the second 25-19. Perhaps most notably, four UBC players – Keturakis,
Irvan Brar,
Joel Regehr and
Danny Aspenlieder – combined to serve five aces, while the Golden Bears managed only eight kills in the entire set.
For the third set in a row, the Thunderbirds led the Golden Bears 16-12 at the technical timeout. But this time, UBC only gave up six more points before a Brar kill won the set and the match for the Thunderbirds 25-18.
"Our guys were talking about how they wanted another chance after last night," added MacDonald. "To a man, each one of our guys was better tonight."
With a spot in the national championships already sewn up, UBC will now wait to see who they will match-up against in their opening game when they travel to Edmonton for the U SPORTS national championships on March 16-18.
