VANCOUVER – There was plenty of late-night action at War Memorial Gym on Friday, as the Thunderbirds and Spartans did battle for well over two hours across five sets in a thrilling UBC victory (21-25, 35-33, 25-22, 13-25, 15-13).
 
That second set score is indeed not a typo, as the T-Birds and Spartans went back-and-forth for a short eternity in a crucial second set that proved to be the difference between a 2-0 Trinity Western lead and a 1-1 tie in set count.
 
"I think for both teams some of that was not their best play, but resilience is a good word there," said UBC head coach Doug Reimer on the extra-long second set. "We had lots of different people step up in that second set…over the five sets we had a lot of different people come in and contribute, including first-year players."
 
Some of those contributions off the bench included Mackenzie Campbell who led the team in assists with 29, Daphne Demiryol who provided a season-high 10 digs, and rookies Sol Henson and Abby Wasutyk who both came up with big plays at various points.
 
"With a match that long I could talk about a wide variety of different players at different times," mused Reimer. "But I thought Mackenzie played well and set well for long periods of time, I thought Daphne – who is not normally our starting libero – hung in with a lot of volume she was seeing...there was good stuff across the board."


 
Overall, Lucy Borowski led the way with 16 kills, six digs and three aces, while Aimee Skinner tallied 12 kills, nine digs and two blocks. Leonora Barbulovich-Nad provided a career-high nine kills with a sparkling .900 hitting percentage, along with five blocks.
 
On the side of the Spartans, the duo of Kaylee Plouffe and Maryn Boldon combined for an incredible 49 kills and 17 digs. Plouffe's total of 26 kills marked a career-high for the fifth-year star.
 
Kylee Glanville started off the night with a kill followed by a Barbulovich-Nad ace, but then the Spartans took over from there. Kills from Plouffe and Emma Graca put their team out in front 13-10, and the Spartans never gave up the lead from there. UBC got it as close as two points, but the visitors closed it out 25-21 in the end.
 
The Thunderbirds came out with some fire to begin the second, with Borowski landing consecutive aces to spark a big run. A Jocelyn Lenarcic kill over the middle stretched the lead out to 13-5, not yet with any foreshadowing of what was to come.
 
That changed when the Spartans suddenly ripped off a 9-1 run to tie the score at 14 points apiece, before a Wasutyk kill and block immediately after subbing in for the first time stemmed the bleeding.
 
Both teams were plagued by service errors late in the set, which contributed to neither team being able to create any separation from the other. The two rivals racked up set point after set point, but no one could make the breakthrough as the scores climbed past 25 and then 30.


 
Finally, kills from Skinner and Barbulovich-Nad provided an end to the marathon within the marathon, as the T-Birds reached 35 points and evened up the set count.
 
The T-Birds went up again early in the third, before the Spartans fought their way back into things, with a Plouffe kill tying the score at 8-8. Henson landed consecutive kills off the bench, before Glanville served an ace and then a back row kill to make it 17-13 to force a Trinity Western timeout.
 
The Spartans continued to fight, not letting UBC lead by any more than four points, but Skinner eventually ended things with a powerful kill before the visitors could truly threaten to tie or take the lead.
 
Trinity Western did more than just threaten in the fourth, as they dominated the T-Birds in a surprisingly one-sided showing to force a fifth set. Kills from Boldon and Plouffe and an ace from Sienna Driedger contributed to blowing the set wide open, and the momentum snowballed from there as the Spartans won by 12 in the end.
 
That momentum carried into the beginning of the fifth, as Boldon started the final frame with three kills in a row. UBC responded with three points of their own, however, and then ratcheted up their defensive intensity from there.
 
Barbulovich-Nad provided highlights in the form of three straight blocks, teaming up with each of Skinner, Henson and Borowski on successive plays to help the T-Birds take the lead. Another block, this time from Lenarcic and Issy Robertshaw, made it 12-9 UBC.
 
The Spartans fired off another burst, briefly tying the score at 12 points each, but one more push from the Thunderbirds ended the match, capped by a Skinner kill on the left side.


 
After a run of six straight matches against top competition – nationally-ranked Manitoba and Trinity Western as well as 7-2 Thompson Rivers – the Thunderbirds have one more weekend of action against the Winnipeg Wesmen at home next week before the winter break pause.
 
"I mean this league is so tough and we've got to be ready to play a good Winnipeg team, there's not a lot of nights off here," remarked Reimer. "But you can't simulate something like this…and you have to remember it for when we have tough matches down the road."
 
Next Friday's match is also UBC's annual Pride Night, which begins at 7:30 p.m. (PT), as the second half of the night's doubleheader which begins with the men's match at 5:30 p.m. (PT).