EDMONTON, Alta. – For the second time on Saturday, a UBC Thunderbirds volleyball team put up more points than their opponent in a Canada West medal game and lost a five-set heartbreaker. T-Birds women's volleyball fell 3-2 (25-23, 19-25, 25-22, 13-25, 15-13) to the Alberta Pandas in the Canada West Gold Medal match. Both teams had already qualified for next week's U SPORTS Championships, where UBC will return as the two-time defending national champions.

"Obviously mixed feelings," UBC head coach Doug Reimer said about the game. "There's times we played really well but [there were] a few times I think we'd like points we should have had, from my perspective, we just didn't execute."
 

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If you were to look at just about any statistic besides the score of the Canada West Final at the Saville Community Sports Centre, you would have thought UBC won. The 'Birds were better in every major statistical category: points, kills, hitting percentage, assists, digs and aces. The only one they didn't win was blocks, which was tied. Yet, timing and distribution matter, sometimes more than anything else, as the Pandas proved with their victory on Saturday night.

Individually, UBC's Issy Robertshaw set a new career-high with 57 assists. That total also represents the eighth most assists in a playoff game in conference history, tying her with teammate Olivia Furlan, who accomplished the same feat in her first stint as a Thunderbird in 2019.

Furlan, who has since transitioned from standout setter to standout libero, led the match with 18 digs. Akash Grewal had 16 kills to top the T-Birds, while Lucy Borowski chipped in 14 kills along with a match-high four aces and five blocks.



A microcosm of the match, the first set was a nail-biter. By the time both teams reached double digits, neither side had ever built more than a two-point lead, as there appeared to be almost nothing separating them. A three-point run featuring kills from Grewal and Borowski saw UBC turn a 15-13 deficit into a 16-15 lead. The T-Birds held their slim advantage until a Justine Kolody ace tied the set at 21-21 and prompted a UBC timeout. With the two sides tied at 23, Ronnie Dickson came up with a clutch kill to set up set point for the Pandas, which they then won on a big double block by Laila Johnston and Allie Moore.

In the second set, Kylee Glanville got the start and proved impactful throughout the frame. She picked up a crafty kill to give UBC an early 9-6 advantage, which Emelie Silovs helped build up to 11-7 with an ace, prompting an Alberta timeout. Soon after, a Robertshaw ace had the 'Birds up 14-9, but a four-point run, powered by two kills from Kolody, had the home side back within one at 14-13. That's when Glanville went to work, using both power and finesse to earn three more kills in quick succession and extend UBC's advantage to 19-15. Grewal also found her swing down the stretch, setting up set point with her fourth kill of the frame, before Emma Doyon finished it off with a kill of her own to make it 25-19 and even the match.



There was little to separate the two teams early in the third set. Then the Pandas got hot. A six-point run turned a 6-5 UBC advantage into a 10-6 Alberta lead, highlighted by a big ace from Dickson. Back-to-back kills from Glanville quickly brought the 'Birds back to within two at 10-8, setting up a torrid stretch of beautiful volleyball. Neither team made an error for 10 straight points, with the set tied up at 14-14 on a picturesque back-line ace by Grewal. Seeing her first action of the night, Jocelyn Lenarcic made her first swing count, picking up a kill on a quick set to keep UBC within one, down 17-16. The Pandas ripped off a three-point run from there however, going up 20-16 and forcing UBC head coach Doug Reimer to call his last timeout.

The 'Birds immediately benefitted from a coach's point on a missed Alberta serve, Lenarcic earned her second ace of the set and suddenly it was only 21-20 for the Pandas. That was as close as UBC would get however, as despite clutch kills from Grewal from both the left and right side, the Pandas would hold off the blue and gold to win 25-22.

The last play of the set was quite a controversial one, as UBC appeared to block Laila Johnston to win the point, with the rejection catching the Alberta sideline. Except the official waving the flag saw it differently. All UBC protests fell on deaf ears as those watching from home grimaced through a replay showing the ball landing in.



The fourth set was chaotic. The precision of set three abandoned in favour of frantic energy, fueled by desperation on the side of the visitors and the proximity of a potential conference championship for the home side.

Desperation won out early on, as the T-Birds built a 9-4 lead behind three kills from Borowski, two more from Emelie Silovs and another Glanville ace. The Pandas could not find their rhythm, with the hosts burning their second timeout before the halfway mark of the set, as UBC led 12-5. Nothing could slow down the Thunderbirds though, like a stone rolling down a hill their momentum only built until the lead was an insurmountable 17-6. The Pandas never found their footing, looking like a different team than the first three sets and never mounting much of a fight as the T-Birds took the set 25-13 to set up a fifth and final frame for the conference championship.



As the intensity ramped up, the Pandas looked like themselves again and the two storied programs put on a show. Silovs and Borowski each had a kill as part of a three-point run to give UBC an early 4-2 lead. Alberta stormed back and put together a three-point run of their own to go up 6-5. Another savvy timeout by Coach Reimer helped turn the tide back in the favour of the visitor as they went up 8-7 at the technical switch behind a kill from Doyon.

When the two teams flipped sides, the lead flipped with them. The Pandas rattled off three straight points to go up 10-8. Coach Reimer then pulled off a move that only he would attempt, putting in three subs for a two-point stretch, which the teams split, before returning his three starters. Robertshaw won a big joust at the net to cut it to 11-10 for Alberta before Dickson hammered a kill to the opposite corner of the court to put the home side within three points of Canada West Gold.

In a near do-or-die scenario, Silovs made a monster block at center court, but Abby Guezen responded with an athletic kill over a pair of blockers to make it 13-11. Solecki drilled a kill off of an attempted block, but Borowski was then rejected, setting up a 14-12 match point.

UBC would not quit, as Solecki made a heady play to temper her swing and push the ball into open space down the sideline to make it 14-13. After an Alberta timeout, the two teams locked in for a long rally. Furlan made a diving, one-handed dig to keep her team alive, each side had their chances, but in the end it was Mackenzie Pool knocking an attack off the top of the block to end the match and give Alberta the conference championship.



Abby Guezen was named player of the match for the Pandas, while Trinity Solecki received the honour for the T-Birds.

Both teams now advance to the U SPORTS Championship, hosted by the University of Manitoba March 14-16. Seeding for the national championship tournament is expected to be released on Sunday.