EDMONTON – The UBC Thunderbirds will play for Canada West bronze, and a berth at the upcoming U SPORTS National Championship, after a straight sets defeat (25-23, 25-17, 25-11) to the Trinity Western Spartans in semifinal action Friday afternoon at the Saville Centre.
The Spartans' win propels them into Saturday's gold medal match against the host Alberta Pandas while also clinching a berth at the national tournament.
UBC will now face the Mount Royal Cougars, who fell in four sets to Alberta earlier Friday, for bronze on Saturday and the final Canada West national championship berth.
"We had strong passing and good serves in that first set, but we failed to get blocks and defensive positioning against a very strong Spartans team," said UBC Head Coach
Doug Reimer. "Overall even though that first set was close, defensively (the Spartans) were very solid and made some big plays and then they just built off that. All their hitters were going and we never applied any consistent pressure after that first set."
First-team CW all-star Savannah Purdy and Meaghan Mealey were the standouts for the victors, the former recording a game-high 12 kills. They were part of an efficient attack, run by setter Olivia Heinen who paced the game with 28 assists, and finished with a remarkable .405 hitting percentage.
The Thunderbirds were uncharacteristically poor on the attack, after ranking second in the CW in playoff kills to this point. They finished with a .120 hitting percentage, and were largely shut down by a phenomenal TWU block line. Middle
Jayde Robertsen and first-team outside hitter
Cara Kovacs were bright spots for the T-Birds, with the former finishing with five kills along with an ace.
The first set was a remarkable continuation of the close battles these two squads have had in the regular season. Mealey was dominant for the West division champion Spartans, recording four kills in five swings before the technical timeout and finishing with a set-high seven kills. For the T-Birds, Kovacs paced the starters with four kills on seven attacks. Both attacks were outstanding in the frame recording north of a .180 hitting percentage; however, the Spartans defence was more effective, out-digging UBC 10-6 and finishing the frame with five total blocks. The Spartans would outlast the Thunderbirds in a close 25-23 victory.
Notably, the squads finished with four service errors apiece, a large departure from a typically strong area for both teams.
The UBC attack struggled to break through the Spartan block line to start the second set, as TWU rode a .429 hitting percentage to a 16-10 technical timeout lead. The Thunderbirds were unable to capture their previous attacking form en route to a .097 hitting percentage, and though they attempted a late comeback bid, Trinity Western won the frame 25-17.
The third set was a similar song and dance to the previous frame, as the Spartans rushed out to a 9-1 lead. TWU's first-team all-star Avery Heppell recorded four kills in this run, and the Thunderbirds could not seem to get into a good rhythm. The Spartans would make quick work of the UBC squad to finish the third set with a resounding 25-11 victory.
UBC now faces a quick turnaround with their season on the line, set to face the Cougars for Canada West bronze at 12:00 p.m. PT Saturday.
"It will come down to the team that does the best job of resetting in a short period of time," Reimer explained. "We have to be completely focussed on getting back to how we were playing prior to today."
The match will be streamed live on
Canada West TV.
