VANCOUVER – The host UBC Thunderbirds came from behind to upset the No. 6 Manitoba Bisons 3-1 (20-25, 25-20, 25-16, 25-14) in an electrifying semi-final showdown at the 2023 U SPORTS Women's Volleyball Championship inside War Memorial Gym. With the win, the No. 7-seeded T-Birds will play for their 13
th national title on home court against the defending champion No. 1 Trinity Western Spartans on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. (Pacific).
Cara Kovacs came up with a massive solo block for a slim 5-3 UBC lead in the first set and
Elise Petit joined the block party with one of her own at 7-3. The Bisons bounced back to even the score at 11-11 with an Ella Gray kill that forced a T-Bird timeout and Manitoba pulled away with a late 5-0 run to help secure the opening set. Setter
Kayla Oxland lifted the 'Birds to a 13-6 lead in the second with back-to-back kills, as the home team carried a 19-9 cushion through to a set victory.
Brynn Pasin put the Thunderbirds up 16
-14 in the third and a pair of
Jayde Robertsen aces extended their lead to 23-16 en route to a third set win. The hosts continued to build momentum throughout the fourth and led 21-14 after a Robertsen kill late in the set – getting the crowd on their feet for the final few points of the upset win.
"This is just tremendous," said long time UBC head coach
Doug Reimer. "Just so much credit to our group in putting together two straight night's were we dropped the first set then coming back and playing some really good volleyball, I think just how much work the team committed to over the last few weeks. The group has really done so much work over the last few months to become more connected and working together and it's almost the same within a match I mean we started really well but Manitoba took it to us in that first set and we didn't execute well enough and we're like ok that's a really good team. It was a great overall team effort that included some outstanding individual performances and I thought
Jayde Robertsen and
Kacey Jost really anchored that among others with their serving and passing respectively but even to be able to maintain composure when it's not going perfect, everybody pushing together as a group and it was a special night in the end."
Robertsen had a standout 14 kills, seven blocks, and four aces for the Thunderbirds,
Erika Vermette put up seven kills with three aces and 11 digs, and Petit recorded eight kills and six blocks in the victory. Rookie Raya Surinx racked up 14 kills with two aces and 13 digs for the Bisons, as Ella Gray added 10 kills and seven digs in the loss.
The atmosphere was just awesome, electric," continued Reimer reflecting on the energetic crowd of over 1,500 fans fueling the blue and gold inside War Memorial Gym. "Players were definitely thriving off of it and it was such an enjoyable sporting experience for the fans but we needed to stay dialed in throughout, that said I must admit I did look up when we had 24 in the fourth-set, I looked up and said this is pretty cool."
Manitoba will take on the No. 5 Dalhousie Tigers in the bronze medal match at 2:00 p.m. (Pacific) Sunday inside War Memorial Gym.
"They're champions for a reason," concluded Reimer when asked about Sunday's title matchup with No. 1 seed Trinity Western Spartans. "They won Canada West, they're the steadiest team, we're just going to have to bring a lot of the same energy and execution we've showed over the last couple of days and I think for the last match of the year I'd be surprised if we weren't recovered and ready to go."
Mikasa Players of the Game
