EDMONTON (U SPORTS) – The UBC Thunderbirds staged a spectacular comeback from a 2-0 deficit but ultimately lost to the Alberta Golden Bears in the first semifinal of the 2017 U SPORTS FOG Men's Volleyball Championship in Edmonton by a score of 3-2 (25-23, 25-15, 20-25, 20-25, 15-11) Saturday night at the Saville Community Sports Centre.
In a game that featured massive momentum swings, a thunderous home crowd of 2,430, and two of the best teams in U SPORTS men's volleyball, Saturday's semifinal will go down as an instant classic. Alberta will now advance to their third national final in four seasons, after winning the U SPORTS championship in 2014 and 2015. This is also the second consecutive time the Bears will play in the final as the tournament host, winning the title in 2009 at the University of Alberta's main gymnasium.
The Bears will play the winner of the second semifinal, between the No. 1 Trinity Western Spartans and No. 5 McMaster Mauraders at 6 p.m. MT.
UBC, meanwhile, will play for national bronze tomorrow at 3 p.m. MT / 2 p.m. PT.
"Our guys showed a lot of heart, and a lot of character tonight. Something that our group has done all season, honestly I'm really not surprised," said UBC head coach
Kerry MacDonald after the heartbreaking loss. "I'm just really proud of what they did. Unfortunately, the comeback fell a bit short in the fifth. That's a phenomenal team on the other side of the net. Respect to them, they deserved that win."
"We started off a little bit slow," remarked fourth-year UBC player
Irvan Brar. "Alberta played amazing. Hats off to them. We just did what we did all year, though, played point by point, trying to get back one set at a time and not look too far into the future. We did, and brought it to a fifth, unfortunately, we couldn't finish but I'm so proud of the way the boys played."
Fifth-year Golden Bears outside hitter Ryan Nickifor finished with a game-high 22 kills, adding eight digs and three block assists, earning the Alberta Player of the Match.
"It's just one of those matches where you have to come out and swing away. It was a great battle. You can't back down, you have to be willing to go for every ball," said the veteran Bear. "I think that was exactly the mentality we had. You don't want to play not to lose, you want to play to win that kind of game."
"I thought Ryan stepped up. He hit out of all three zones on the court," said Alberta head coach Terry Danyluk on Nickifor. "He hung in there on serve receive, I'd like to see his spin serve go off a little bit more, but for the most part he did a lot offensively for us, he carried a lot of the weight."
Mat Guidi paced the Thunderbirds with 16 kills on 31 attempts, earning UBC's Player of the Match.
The Golden Bears turned to Nickifor early and often on Saturday, as he spun in six kills in the opening set, and another four in the second. The Golden Bears took an incredibly tight first set 25-23.
In textbook Golden Bears fahion, a large part of their win was based off the play of their middles. Alberta finished the night with five solo blocks and a staggering 24 block assists, while the T-Birds managed just four and four, respectively.
That middle dominance was prevalent in the second, as Alberta completely stuffed the 'Birds attack with five second-set blocks. UBC's star hitter, Brar, who set a tournament-high with 26 kills in their quarter-final win, was held in check in the first two sets, totalling seven kills on 18 attempts.
UBC got back into the match in the third, taking it 25-20. Based largely off their surging defence, limiting Alberta to just eight kills, as well as four kills from Guidi and two from Brar, UBC took the third.
The fourth was a carbon-copy of the third, as UBC took the set 25-20 again. Nickifor kept the Bears in for a majority of the set, adding six of his 22 kills in the fourth. However, another five combined kills from Guidi and Brar, as well as two from
Cam Fennema pushed UBC over the top.
While it seemed that momentum and switched into UBC's favour, the Golden Bears stormed out the in the fifth with leads of 4-2 and 9-6. A 5-2 run late gave Alberta control, but the Thunderbirds fought off three match points before an attack error sealed the 15-11 fifth-set win.
The Golden Bears aim for their ninth U SPORTS title tomorrow.
- with files from Christina Donnelly
STAT LEADERS
UBC
Kills:
Mat Guidi (16)
Points: Mat Guidi (16.5)
Blocks:
Jordan Deshane (3)
Digs:
Mat Guidi (12)
Service aces:
Jordan Deshane (3)
Player of the match: Mat Guidi
Alberta
Kills: Ryan Nickifor (22)
Points: Ryan Nickifor (24.5)
Blocks: George Hobern (6)
Digs: Brett Walsh (10)
Service aces: Brett Walsh (3)
Player of the match: Ryan Nickifor
SCHEDULE & RESULTS (All times MT)
Friday, March 17
1:00 p.m. QF 1: No. 1 Trinity Western 3 vs. No. 8 Waterloo 0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-23)
2:30 p.m. QF 2: No. 5 McMaster 3 vs. No. 4 Laval 2 (25-16, 25-11, 23-25, 19-25, 17-15)
6:30 p.m. QF 3: No. 2 Manitoba 1 vs. No. 7 Alberta 3 (18-25, 25-23, 21-25, 16-25)
8:00 p.m. QF 4: No. 3 UBC 3 vs No. 6 New Brunswick 1 (25-22, 25-20, 22-25, 25-17)
Saturday, March 18
1:00 p.m. Consolation #1: No. 4 Laval 3 vs. No. 8 Waterloo 0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-17)
2:30 p.m. Consolation #2: No. 2 Manitoba 3 vs. No. 6 New Brunswick 0 (25-20, 25-15, 25-22)
6:30 p.m. Semifinal #1: No. 7 Alberta 3 vs. No. 3 UBC 2 (25-23, 25-15, 20-25, 20-25, 15-11)
8:00 p.m. Semifinal #2: No. 1 Trinity Western vs. No. 5 McMaster
Sunday, March 19
12:00 p.m. 5th place (
USPORTS.LIVE)
3:00 p.m. Bronze medal (
USPORTS.LIVE)
6:00 p.m. Championship final (
USPORTS.LIVE)
