The fans at War Memorial Gym were treated to an electric performance from the UBC Thunderbirds who clawed back from an early 2-0 deficit to complete the 3-2 comeback victory (27-29, 21-25, 25-14, 25-23, 15-8) against the Saskatchewan Huskies. The win gives the T-Birds a 1-0 lead in their best-of-three Canada West Quarter-final series.
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The T-Birds got big-time contributions from up and down the roster, including from rookie
Dawson Pratt who came off the bench to record eight kills and 15 digs, both season-highs by a wide margin.
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"15 digs is insane, he's such a good blocker as well," said Thunderbirds head coach
Mike Hawkins about Pratt's impact. "For him to come in, in a really difficult match, halfway through the match and play as well as he did is really impressive."
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Multiple other T-Birds had banner nights as well.
Gavin Moes broke his season-highs in both kills (26) and digs (14), with the kill total tying the UBC program record for most in a playoff match.
Mason Greves broke a UBC single playoff match record with 21 digs along with 51 assists and six blocks, while
Kieran Robinson-Dunning put up a season-high 12 kills.
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On the side of the Huskies, Isaiah Mamer had 17 kills and 12 digs, while Emmett Graham recorded 17 kills and nine digs.
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The first set was back and forth throughout. Consecutive kills from
Conaire Taub and
Nick Taub put UBC up 14-12, but the Huskies then went on a 7-2 run to take the lead right back.
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After a
Nick Taub kill knotted the score at 24, the two teams went back and forth in an extra period of play before Saskatchewan finally ended it with a 29-27 win.
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The T-Birds got off to a stronger start in the second, but the Huskies again put together a big run to go up 15-11 and force a UBC timeout.
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The visitors were able to play from the front for the rest of the set. Down 23-17, the Thunderbirds ripped off four straight points in a valiant effort to keep the set alive, but the Huskies were able to close it out with a score of 25-21.
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The third frame began with a strong opening from the T-Birds, with back-to-back kills from Pratt making it 7-2 for UBC. This time, they were able to hold off a run from the Huskies, and surged back ahead with two straight blocks from
Conaire Taub and
Jesse Umoren making it 16-11.
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A kill from Moes stretched the lead out to 20-12, and Saskatchewan was unable to threaten from there. A Robinson-Dunning kill capped off a dominant 25-14 performance in the set for the T-Birds.
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The Huskies came out with some fire in the fourth, going up 3-0 early, but consecutive kills from Umoren and Moes capped a 6-1 UBC run to take the lead. Neither team could create separation in the middle part of the set, before Moes landed two straight points to make it 20-18 for UBC.
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Moes then notched another kill – his ninth of the set – to give the 'Birds set point at 24-23. From there another block from the duo of Umoren and
Conaire Taub sent the teams to a fifth and final set.
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Taub turned it up a notch in the fifth, powering UBC to a 6-3 lead with three early kills. Their momentum snowballed from there with a block from Umoren and Greves making it 10-4 and putting the T-Birds in the driver's seat.
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UBC cruised to the end of the set from there, with Robinson-Dunning scoring the final point to win the fifth 15-8 and the match 3-2.
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"Kudos to our guys for just following the plan," added coach Hawkins. "When you're down certain guys the margins for success are really small…the first two sets I think we were kind of just dipping our toes in the pool a little bit, and the last three sets I think we just dove in."
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The Thunderbirds and Huskies will be right back at it Saturday night at War Memorial Gym at 7:00 p.m. (PST) for the second match of the best-of-three series. If UBC wins again, they will advance to the Canada West Semifinals for the first time since the 2019-20 season.
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