VANCOUVER – In a tidy match lasting just over an hour, the No. 2 UBC Thunderbirds (16-3) earned a convincing straight sets victory (25-13, 25-14, 25-15) over the UBC Okanagan Heat (5-14) Friday evening at War Memorial Gym.
On a night in which she was honoured alongside Akash Grewal as one of the T-Birds' two graduating seniors, Lucy Borowski produced a team-high 10 digs along with seven kills and a pair of service aces to lead UBC to a seventh straight win to officially clinch second overall in the Canada West standings.
"We had to really battle and that experience is really good for us because we know we're heading into a bye weekend so I think it just reinforces what we need to be doing," said UBC head coach, Doug Reimer, shortly after his squad extended their win streak over UBCO to seven matches. "I thought UBCO, they came out in the first half of set one and gave us long rallies. It was a real battle and I think we did a good job weathering that storm."
The first set was indeed a back-and-forth affair with the Heat maintaining pace and keeping the score as close as 12-10 in favour of the T-Birds after one of Marija Josipovic's team-high five kills.
But the 'Birds began to pull away with a 9-0 run to open up a 23-11 gap which included back-to-back Elizabeth Lee aces.
The second set saw UBC quick out of the gate to take a 5-1 lead. The Heat were able to claw back within a single point at 5-4 after a pair of T-Bird attack errors, but the blue and gold responded in kind, eventually capping off the 25-14 set with an Aimee Skinner kill, one of six on the night for the third-year outside hitter who finished the match with a .750 attack percentage.
Desperate to extend the match and keep their slim Canada West playoff hopes alive, the Heat began the third set on a 5-2 run before UBC chipped away to get even at 8-8.
A 9-1 T-Birds run kickstarted by a powerful Borowski kill that found space just inside the Heat service line allowed UBC to comfortably run up to an 18-10 advantage, thanks in part to back-to-back
Issy Robertshaw aces.
Closing out their second consecutive straight sets victory with an Ella Ungemach ace, UBC made it eight consecutive set wins heading into their final regular season match Saturday night.
"Overall, I thought we passed the ball really well and I thought we defended well. We're extending more rallies than we were before so I think just our overall energy and compete level was good," said Reimer who was also able to get some of his younger players quality time on the court Friday. "We were able to get a few more people, players that went in and did a really good job and really contributed…playing at game speed – that was another positive on our end."
Following the match, Borowski and Grewal were honoured in front of hundreds of friends, family and T-Birds faithful in an emotional senior weekend presentation for two of the most impactful players the UBC program has had in its long, storied history.
"It's not just the seniors but everybody is geared up for it. More than anything, these are obviously two pretty exceptional volleyball players and people that have represented this university very, very well."
Saturday night's rematch with the Heat will mark the final contest for the T-Birds until their Canada West quarter-final series in two weeks' time.
First serve Saturday is set for 4:30 p.m. at War Memorial Gym. Tickets are available and the match will also be streamed live on Canada West TV.
