VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds (1-0) began their Canada West regular season with a exciting 3-1 (25-21, 28-26, 22-25, 27-25) home-opening win over the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades (0-1) inside a packed War Memorial Gym.
"I think there were some nerves there tonight," said UBC head coach
Doug Reimer. "I don't think our team feels like we had our best effort. Getting into the flow was a bit elusive and we weren't there for long periods, so it turned into a bit of a grind. We can learn a lot from that. We have depth and a lot of young people stepped up – like Akash [Grewal] for example has been doing a great job as a key player in the preseason. Our first-year setter as well,
Issy Robertshaw, that's not an easy situation to be in and she handled that really well. We just didn't find enough ways to put enough pressure on them with our serving. Not just missing serves…but how do we put them in a bit more trouble. I'd give them quite a bit of credit – in particular both the Attieh sisters on the outsides and their libero [Emily Matsui] played really well. We have to expect that against most teams in the league this year. On March 17
th we'll be hosting the National Championship, so we really appreciate the fans coming out with their energy tonight and we'd love to have that as the norm throughout the season."
Elise Petit led the 'Birds with 16 kills and added 14 digs,
Lucy Borowski had 14 kills with 9 assists and 11 digs, and
Jayde Robertsen added 8 kills with two aces and a block in the victory.
Lauren Attieh put up 17 kills with five total blocks, while former T-Bird
Gabrielle Attieh had 12 kills and 17 digs with two blocks in the hard-fought loss.
The two teams traded blows in an evenly matched first set until Borowski put the 'Birds up three and a Cascades error gave UBC a 14-10 lead.
Gabrielle Attieh brought UFV back within three and setter Kinna Fisher made it 16-14 on a sneaky tip. Borowski lifted the T-Birds to a 22-19 advantage before Petit gave the home team a set point that
Erika Vermette converted on tip to take it 25-21.
The Cascades jumped out to a 10-3 lead in the second set and led 11-4 before
Danielle Price cut the deficit to six. UBC bounced back, as Petit capped off the run with a kill through the block and a left side kill to make it 16-10 before Robertsen went on a strong serving run and cut it to 16-14 UFV. Price smacked a kill at 18-16 Cascades and Grewal ripped a left side kill to tie it up at 19-19 before crushing another kill for a 21-20 lead. Robertsen came up with a huge block to punctuate a marathon rally at 23-20, but UFV responded to knot it up at 23-23 and earned a set point with a big block – but Vermette evened it up yet again. A net violation by the Cascades gave the Thunderbirds their third set point and Petit converted on a left side kill to complete the second set comeback, 28-26.
UFV led 14-12 in the third set before Robertsen tied it at 15-15 with a first touch kill. Grewal earned a huge block at 17-17 and cranked a cross-court kill at 19-18 'Birds. Lauren Attieh kept it a one-point game at 21-20 UBC and a well-timed tip by Cailin Bitter tied it up again at 21-21. Mo Likness gave the Cascades a set point at 24-22 before the second-year middle came up with a block to take the third set 25-22 and extend the match.
It was an equally tight fourth set with the teams even at 17-17 before Borowski smoked a kill and forced a Cascades timeout at 20-19 'Birds. Borowski came up big again for a 21-20 and the two side traded blows to a 25-25 tie. Petit lifted the T-Birds to their third match point and Borowski won it with a kill 27-25.
The Cascades and Thunderbirds will renew acquaintances on Saturday evening at 5:00 p.m. (PT) inside War Memorial Gym.
