CALGARY – The UBC Thunderbirds lost the third and deciding match of their Canada West women's volleyball quarter-final series at Mt. Royal in Calgary Sunday, falling 3-0 (25-13, 25-22 and 25-22).

The loss eliminates the team from post-season play. Senior players Davis, Siobhan Finan, Anna Price, and Laura Worsley will now graduate to the ranks of the program's illustrious alumnae. Davis won one U SPORTS title with the T-Birds, while Finan, Price and Worsley all helped UBC win two national banners.
 
"I think we battled pretty hard defensively today, but we didn't have enough answers to stop some of their middle attacking," said UBC head coach Doug Reimer.
 
Fifth-year senior middle Tessa Davis recorded seven kills in her last university contest, tied for the team lead with Brynn Pasin. Setter Olivia Furlan had 18 assists, while Anna Price, another graduating senior, recorded nine digs. Gabrielle Attieh had a pair of solo blocks and three block assists.
 
Attieh's first solo block capped off UBC's match-opening 7-2 run. The 'Birds also got a pair of kills from Pasin, and one from Furland. However, MRU turned the game around with a 9-1 surge to take a 15-11 lead, and then captured the final eight points of the set (the last seven on Chantel Park's serve) to win 25-13.
 

UBC started strong in the second set as well, jumping out to a 10-6 lead on an Attieh service ace, and held a 16-13 edge at the technical timeout. The Cougars responded to tie the set at 17-17, before managing a 4-0 run to go ahead 22-19.
 
Kills by Davis got UBC back within a point at 22-21 and 23-22, but a kill and service ace by Haley Roe on consecutive points sealed the set for the home team.
 
Jayde Robertsen knocked down a kill to put the T-Birds up 10-5 in the third. Davis and Attieh combined on a block to send the teams into the technical timeout with UBC up 16-9. The lead was at 19-14 before MRU earned six straight kills. A mini 4-1 run late in the set pushed the 'Birds to the brink of elimination, which came with a UBC attack error on the first match point.
 
MRU was paced by Tasha Holness, the former professional player and national team member who is back with the Cougars after a 15-year break. She had two solo blocks and five block assists, and recorded a match-high 11 kills and a .409 attack percentage.
 

It is the first time since the 2006-07 season the Thunderbirds will not compete at the U SPORTS Women's Volleyball Championship. Between 2008 and 2020, UBC won eight national titles to become the most successful in Canada. The drought will just be a year, however, as the Thunderbirds will host the 2021 U SPORTS tournament at War Memorial Gymnasium next March.

- with files from Jarron Mueller (Mt. Royal Sports Information Coordinator)