CALGARY – The UBC Thunderbirds outlasted the host Mount Royal Cougars in a five-set battle to strike first in the Canada West quarter-final Friday night at Calgary's Kenyon Court.
After dropping the opening frame, the T-Birds rallied to take the second and third set while staving off the second-seeded Cougars in the fifth (20-25, 25-23, 25-19, 20-25. 15-12).
"Both teams had their ebbs and flows and [we were] pretty fortunate there," said UBC head coach Doug Reimer. "We hung tough in the fourth set. I think we got a lot of really good contributions from a lot of our players, it was a really good team win against a tough team."
Gabrielle Attieh led the T-Birds attack with 17 kills while fifth-year Anna Price totalled 16 kills while Olivia Furlan topped UBC with 14 digs along with a season-high 44 assists.
For Mount Royal, Dholi Thokbuom led with 17 kills, followed by Cassidy Kitchen with 13.
The two teams played an evenly matched opening set with UBC staking out a 19-17 advantage only to have the Cougars rattle off eight of the final nine points of the frame, punctuated with a final kill from Kitchen.
Mount Royal's Quinn Pelland began the second with a kill, but the Thunderbirds soon set the pace. Despite this, the Cougars held a two point advantage at the technical timeout.
The Thunderbirds came out of the break with a 5-0 run. It was neck-and-neck until the 'Birds closed out the set win with a Brynn Pasin service ace.
UBC began the third with a strong stance, earning an early lead by a few points, capitalizing on strong defensive play and taking the set with the largest margin of any on the night.
After the Cougars forced a fifth and deciding set, the final frame saw neither side stake out a lead of more than two points. The T-Birds got back-to-back kills from Tessa Davis and Price to go up 13-12 and were able to take advantage of a pair of MRU attacking errors to secure the win.
"I think MRU will come out really strong, there's a reason they are second in the league," said Reimer of what to expect in game two Saturday. "They present lots of challenges for us, I think it's going to be even harder for us to close it tomorrow."
First serve in the first elimination game of the series is set for 5:00 p.m. PT.
