CALGARY – The UBC Thunderbirds fell in four sets to the No. 2-ranked Calgary Dinos in four sets (16-25, 26-24, 25-21, 25-18) Friday night in their Canada West semifinal series opener at Jack Simpson Gym in Calgary.
 
The Dinos lead the best-of-three semifinal 1-0, with Game 2 set for Saturday night at 6 p.m. MT / 5 p.m. PT. Game 3, if necessary, goes at noon Sunday, with the winner of the series advancing to next week's conference championship match.
 
"We had a great start and battled really well to get back into the second set. But after that we didn't compete well enough to beat a strong Calgary team," remarked UBC head coach Doug Reimer. 
 
Calgary came out with a slow start in the first set and had to adjust quickly to UBC's offensive tactics. The Thunderbirds were hitting around the Dinos' block and reached a .393 hitting percentage while the Dinos achieved just .190, and it was a comfortable 25-16 win for UBC.
 

The T-Birds led just 8-7 before taking five of the next points, a run capped off by a Tessa Davis kill, to go ahead 13-8. A pair of Kiera Van Ryk service aces, one on each side of the technical timeout made 17-10 for the visitors.
 
The Dinos battled back to take the second set 26-24, one that featured some wild swings of momentum.
 
An Adriel Goodman ace sent the home side into the technical timeout ahead 16-9. Then UBC replied with an 11-2 run; three of the last four points came on Olivia Furlan-Ciara Hanly combination blocks. Furlan set Hanly up for a kill that gave the T-Birds a 23-19 edge, before the Dinos won the next three points. Another Hanly kill got the visitors to set point, but the Dinos reeled off the next four to take the set, and even the match at 1-1.
 
The Dinos continued to improve, holding Van Ryk and the rest of the UBC offence at arm's length to take the third 25-21 and the fourth 25-18 to close out the match.
 
Van Ryk did it all for the Thunderbirds, adding five aces to her 19 kills for a total of 24 points. Hanly and Brynn Pasin added seven kills apiece, with Jayde Robertsen, Victoria Behie, and Davis each adding six.
 

For the Dinos, Hannah Tanasichuk led the way with 12 kills while Goodman added 10 along with six blocks. Beth Vinnell had an eight-kill, eight-block night as the Dinos won the stuff category by a 13-9 margin over the Thunderbirds, while Leah Shevkenek picked up three kills while dishing out 32 assists, an ace, and three blocks.
 
Both teams have already solidified their spots at the U SPORTS women's volleyball championship March 15-17, where they'll be joined by host Alberta and Trinity Western as the western foursome.