VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds (2-0) capped off opening weekend with another straight-sets win (25-17, 25-17, 25-18) over the Brandon Bobcats (0-2) Saturday evening at War Memorial Gym as fifth-year setter
Mason Greves set a new program record in assists.
"I knew that Brandon would come out and make things really difficult for us, and similar to yesterday, I don't think the set scores are indicative of how well they played, said UBC head coach
Mike Hawkins. "I thought they made things really uncomfortable for us, but kudos to the guys. Halfway through the 3rd set we had to relish being in the fight, and I thought they did a good job in that."
Reeve Gingera led the 'Birds with 15 kills,
Dawson Pratt put up 11 kills and five digs, while
Gavin Moes added eight kills and six digs.
For the Bobcats, Thomas Friesen recorded a team-high nine kills. Liam Kindle and Liam Pauls contributed six and five kills, respectively.
The game started with a milestone moment for the T-Birds as
Mason Greves earned assists on the first two points of the match, to become the new all-time assist leader in program history with 3,160, surpassing Milan Nikic's career mark by one. Greves finished the night with 37 total helpers to push his new record to 3,195 by night's end, a total that has him sitting in ninth spot on the all time Canada West assist list.
"I think it's a testament to the quality of athlete that he is, the way that he's worked on his craft and improved over his five years at UBC," added Hawkins. "The cool thing is that he's just starting his fifth year so he can obviously add a pretty big number and cement himself in the all time Canada West and U SPORTS records, and hopefully tap things off the national championship."
Back-to-back Pratt kills put UBC up 7-2, forcing a Bobcats timeout. The 'Birds carried the momentum out of the break with a four-point surge to extend the lead to 13-3. A late 9-1 run brought the Bobcats within three at 18-15, but the push was short-lived as the 'Birds closed out the set 25-17.
The second set was closer, with neither team able to create an early lead. UBC found an edge at 10-6 after a pair of Gingera back-row kills and maintained control through the middle of the frame. A
Kieran Robinson-Dunning block increased the gap to 20-13, and a Bobcats service error secured another 25-17 set for the T-Birds.
In the third, Emery made it 17-14 with a service ace, before a Robinson-Dunning and
Mason Greves double block extended UBC's lead to 19-14. A four-point run propelled the hosts to a 25-18 finish to take the match in straight sets.
Next up, the 'Birds hit the road to face the Manitoba Bisons on October 24 and 26, while the Bobcats return home to host the MRU Cougars on October 31 and November 1.
