VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds (2-0) defeated the visiting Brandon Bobcats (0-2) in straight sets (25-18, 25-9, 25-16) on Saturday night at War Memorial Gym, completing a series sweep in the opening weekend of the Canada West season.
 
"Obviously feeling really good about today's match," said UBC head coach Doug Reimer. "I actually feel a lot better about today's match compared to yesterday and I thought Brandon played a lot better. They came out really strong, and I thought our level of play was really good in a number of areas, so I'm really happy with tonight's performance."
 
Leading the way in kills for the Thunderbirds was new-addition Aimee Skinner with 10, followed closely by veteran outside hitter Lucy Borowski with nine. Tianna Kehler and Kylee Glanville both recorded two aces, while Akash Grewal continued her serving streak from Friday night with five of her own. With her eight service aces on Friday and five tonight, Grewal is now within three aces of eclipsing the program record for career service aces.


 
For the Bobcats, Georgia Johnson had five kills and an ace, contributing in key moments of the game. Teammates Carly Thomson and Stephanie Miller tallied four kills each with the latter adding two aces as well.
 
The Thunderbirds raced to a 7-2 lead in the opening set and maintained pressure through the midway point. The Bobcats mounted a late surge, highlighted by a Johnson kill, to cut the lead to four at 18-14. UBC responded with a four-point run to re-establish their edge, and a Borowski kill ended the set at 25-18 in favour of the hosts.
 
Set two started a strong Grewal service run featuring four aces. Blocks by Borowski and Jocelyn Lenarcic increased the gap to 9-1, forcing a Bobcats timeout. Brandon responded with a 4-1 run to cut the deficit to 15-7, but a huge Kehler block set the 'Birds back on track at 18-7. Kehler followed up with a massive hit from the middle to make it 19-9, and Glanville hit back-to-back aces to close out the set at 25-9.
 
Another dominant start for the T-birds in the third pressured a Bobcats timeout at 7-1, before a series of kills from Miller, Thomson, Johnson narrowed the gap to 11-8. The Thunderbirds then went on a six-point run to 24-14, and a Brandon service error handed them the set 25-16, earning a straight-sets victory for a second night in a row at War Memorial Gym.


 
"I was really pleased with how we blocked for most of that match and a number of our players were serving really well," added Reimer. "We're about to face a lot of really good teams, so I think for match two, this puts us in a good competitive state. We have confidence heading into playing the defending national champions next weekend."
 
The 'Birds now hit the road to face the defending national champion Manitoba Bisons in a rematch of last year's U SPORTS semifinals. The two teams play on Friday, October 24 at 4:00 pm and Sunday, October 26 at 11:00 am.
 
The Bobcats enter a bye week next then are back home to host the MRU Cougars for a pair of games on October 31 and November 1.