VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds (1-0) opened their 2026-27 Canada West campaign on Friday night at War Memorial Gym, defeating the visiting Calgary Dinos (0-1) 3-0 (25-16, 25-15, 25-23). After winning a tight first set, the 'Birds controlled the second. The Dinos threatened with a late third-set surge, but UBC held them off to secure a straight-sets victory on opening night.
"This was a pretty ideal first match in the sense that we needed to earn the points that we scored," said head coach Mike Hawkins. "Calgary did a good job of limiting their errors in good situations. They just put a lot of pressure on us when they were in the system. We hit really well. I thought Daniel did a really good job of distributing our offence. But yet, there's still a lot that we feel we can get better at. I told the guys, of course that's the case; It's October 23rd, it's night one. But you want to be able to leave night one feeling like you executed a lot of things that you've been working on."
For the 'Birds, Gavin Moes and Dawson Pratt led the way with ten and nine kills, respectively, with Pratt adding two aces. Wil Basilio chipped in seven kills and two aces, while Alex Emery tallied six kills.
On the other side of the net, Sam Kay had eight kills and two digs, Marshall Qually earned six kills and two digs, with Will Kay contributing five kills.
UBC gained the edge in a neck-and-neck first set after weathering a long rally through to a Moes kill. The momentum fueled a four-point surge capped off by a Pratt block to extend UBC's lead to 17-12, and the hosts cruised to a 25-16 finish.
Pratt scored back-to-back in set two, forcing the visitors to call a timeout at 9-5. Despite big finishes by Dinos' Marshall Vandersteen and Sam Kay, the blue and gold pulled ahead to an eight-point cushion at 18-10 on a Basilio kill. The T-Birds continued to dominate and took the set at 25-15.
Moes went down the line early in the third to give UBC a 5-3 edge, but Dinos outside hitter Sam Kay knotted up the score at 7-7. A huge Basilio block capped off a three-point UBC scoring run, shooting the hosts back into the lead at 16-12. Calgary battled back, with Sam Kay's transition kill bringing the Dinos within one at 23-22, but the 'Birds held on to take the set 25-23 after a service error.
Looking forward to tomorrow's rematch, Hawkins added, "The way that they run their offence, they put you in a lot of uncomfortable situations with their speed, especially in off-kilter situations. Early on, we were just a little undisciplined. We just need to settle in a little bit on defence, but all in all, pretty good game. I expect some upgrades tomorrow from both sides."
The two teams meet again Saturday, October 24, at 4:00 p.m. at War Memorial Gym.
