WINNIPEG, Man. – Meeting in the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season, the No.4-seed Saskatchewan Huskies avenged their loss to the No.3-seed UBC Thunderbirds last year with a 3-2 (22-25, 20-25, 25-18, 25-23, 15-12) victory over the T-Birds in the Canada West Bronze Medal match at the Duckworth Centre.
The T-Birds had more points over the course of the match, also leading in kills, hitting percentage, assists and digs. The Huskies made fewer errors and proved opportunistic in pulling out the win after falling behind 2-0.
Reeve Gingera started the match slowly, but caught fire as it went on, leading all hitters with 20 kills along with a match-high four aces.
Gavin Moes was right behind him with 19 kills, which also chipping in with a pair of blocks.
Mason Greves racked up 46 assists and added 14 digs, six more than anyone else in the match.
The T-Birds came out flying to begin the first set, looking energized and confident. UBC ripped off a 6-0 run from the second point of the match to draw first blood. The Huskies seemed to find their legs from there, never letting UBC build more than a seven-point lead, but only shrinking the gap to two late in the set behind the strong attacking of Jefferson Morrow. In the end, the balanced 'Birds proved to be too much, as their equitable offence, paired with superior digging and blocking, carried them through to the 25-22 win.
The second set started with a flurry of Saskatchewan mistakes, as they made errors on five of their first six serves. The Huskies played well otherwise, hanging right with the T-Birds until a pair of
Gavin Moes kills expanded the UBC lead to 11-7. A three-point run from Saskatchewan brought the game back to 14-12 before a frantic rally filled with diving digs was won by UBC.
The T-Birds took back the momentum for good minutes later when, up 18-14, middle
Jesse Umoren made a wonderful dig in a rare back row appearance following his serve to save a point that UBC eventually won, firing his team up and giving them a five-point edge. Service errors continued to plague Saskatchewan, repeatedly killing their comeback opportunities. The Huskies gifted the 'Birds nine total points in the set that the blue and gold would go on to win 25-20, finished off by an artful kill followed by a stinging ace from
Reeve Gingera.
With their backs against the wall, the Huskies came out with their teeth bared in the third set. Two kills and an ace by Jacob Baird had Saskatchewan jump out to a 6-2 lead. A kill and block by Moes, followed by a Umoren ace, quickly pulled the game back to a one-point deficit at 8-7. However, back-to-back kills from Isaiah Maimer, followed by a T-Birds attack error, restored Saskatchewan's four-point advantage. The Huskies never looked back from there, they were the sharper team through the rest of the set and went on to win 25-18.
As the intensity ramped up in the fourth set, the margin between the two teams narrowed to nearly nothing. Neither side could open up more than a two-point lead until an ace by Morrow gave the Huskies a 15-12 advantage and drew the first timeout of the set from the T-Birds. The three-point lead was short-lived though, as two kills each from Moes and Gingera helped UBC knot the set back up at 17-17. With the T-Birds trailing 19-17,
Owen Lam made an impact off of the bench by hammering his first kill in emphatic fashion before a beautifully place tip into the honeypot on his second attack helped his team reach a 20-20 tie.
Despite another big kill from Lam, the Huskies were clinical down the stretch, reaching set point on a rocket of a kill from Lucas Musschoot. The second-year middle had his number called again right away and he obliged with another strong finish to win the fourth set for Saskatchewan, 25-23.
The fifth set had a dream start for the Huskies, as they used back-to-back kills followed by back-to-back T-Birds attack errors to jump out to a 4-0 lead and force a quick UBC timeout. The 'Birds proved scrappy, with Gingera and Lam improvising to get creative wipes on well-blocked attacks, before Gingera came up with a big solo block to make it 5-3. Just before the technical switch, Gingera painted the right sideline on a gorgeous ace, but a controversial two-touch call on the T-Birds left the Huskies was an 8-6 lead at the midway point of the final frame.
The two rivals went blow for blow down the stretch. Kills from Lam, Moes and Gingera had the T-Birds tie things up 10-10, leaving the match, Canada West Bronze and a spot at the U SPORTS National Championships to come down to a first-to-five.
Saskatchewan scored the next three points, before Gingera came up with a clutch kill. A joust at the net went the Huskies' way to set up match point at 14-11, which the 'Birds fended off once, before Emmett Graham slammed a kill off of the block to end the match and the T-Birds' season.
Isaiah Maimer was named player of the match for Saskatchewan,
Reeve Gingera was player of the match for UBC.
