HAMILTON – The No. 3 UBC Thunderbirds opened the 2018 U Sports national men's volleyball championship with a decisive straight set 3-0 quarter-final victory (25-11, 25-14, 25-19) over the No. 6 UNB Varsity Reds at McMaster University's Burridge Gymnasium early Friday afternoon.
The 'Birds used one of their many calling cards en route to the win which included some impressive execution from the service line in combining for 11 aces. Fifth-year left side
Keith West led the way earning the T-Birds player of the game after finishing with a match high in aces and digs, totalling five each while also adding seven kills to his stat line. Team captain
Irvan Brar and second-year middle
Jordan Deshane each had a match high eight kills while Brar also delivered two service aces. Fourth-year setter
Byron Keturakis chipped in with 4 kills, two aces and a match high 28 assists while
Fynn McCarthy and
Joel Regehr contributed five and four kills respectively.
For UNB, fifth-year outside hitter Ryan Colpitts earned the player of the match on the strength of his six kills and two assists. Pascal McCarthy added six kills and two digs while Kent Doucette finished with a team high four digs in the loss.
The T-Birds were able to set the tone in the opening set thanks to four service aces and two from West who also added a key block to go in front 10-6 and forcing UNB to call their first timeout. The 'Birds would enjoy their highest team hitting percentage of the afternoon at .611 while delivering 12 kills compared to just one error. The Varsity Reds never did find a rhythm in compiling five kills and seven errors for a hitting percentage of -.105.
UBC continued its strong play into the second set where a Brar ace gave the 'Birds a 13-9 lead followed soon after by a West kill for a 16-11 advantage at the technical timeout. Momentum carried on as the T-Birds earned seven of the set's last nine points for a convincing 25-14 win and a two-set lead.
The Varsity Reds were not about to go out without a fight in jumping out to a 5-1 lead to begin the third set and causing T-Birds head coach
Kerry MacDonald to call an early timeout.
The Thunderbirds would respond after the break thanks largely to fifth-year right side
Mat Guidi taking over from the service line, delivering two aces in an eight-point run that spring boarded UBC to a 13-10 lead. The lead was stretched to a 19-16 causing a UNB timeout and not long after the 'Birds would comfortably secure 25-19 victory and opening game sweep.
"I was really pleased, I thought the guys did a great job right from the beginning just executing the game plan, staying in the moment and doing everything that we planned on today so I'm really happy with the performance from all of our guys," said UBC head coach
Kerry MacDonald
"I think the 11 aces is one stat but I also think we were really able to disrupt their offence because of how aggressive the serving was and they spent a lot of time out of system and that made our blocking and defensive job a little bit easier as well.
T-Birds player of the match
Keith West was pleased with the teams opening performance of the tournament.
"I'm really happy, I've never won a game at nationals so to have that in the books feels great but to also play the way we did to come out with that attitude, energy and belief was a great to see."
When asked what the difference was in today's match, West added. "We served incredibly strong, they had a tough time responding to that but behind our serve was our blocking and our defence," Keith continued. "The plays that they were able to return we were there with some really strong blocks and able to transition out of it so we were on the service line a lot more than they were because of it."
With the win, the Thunderbirds advance to semifinal action where they'll meet a familiar Canada West rival in the No. 2 Alberta Golden Bears at 5:00 p.m PT Saturday night at McMaster University's Burridge Gymnasium. The Bears advanced after defeating the No. 7 Queens Gaels 3-1 in their opening quarter-final meeting.
