WINDSOR, Ont. – In a wild, see-saw battle for U SPORTS supremacy, the UBC Thunderbirds had their visions of gold snatched away in a five set battle with their archrivals from Trinity Western, the Spartans coming away with the 3-2 victory (25-22, 15-25, 26-24, 11-25, 15-8) to claim their eighth national title.
A rematch of the 2018 championship match where the Thunderbirds earned their fourth – and most recent – U SPORTS banner, the Spartans handed UBC just their third loss all season, becoming the only team to defeat the blue and gold twice having done so back in November.
The stakes infinitely higher Sunday night in southern Ontario, the T-Birds found themselves against the ropes trailing two sets to one but finding a way to put together one of their most impressive frames all season, a 25-11 beatdown to force the gold medal contest to the limit.
But the Spartans burst out of the gates to a 4-1 lead, forcing UBC head coach, Mike Hawkins to call a timeout in an effort to settle his troops. The tactic didn't have its desired effect, the Spartans taking two more points for a 6-1 advantage after a Kaden Schmidt block.
Down 10-2, the 'Birds put up a valiant comeback attempt albeit with virtually no margin for error. Three straight kills from Dawson Pratt, Reeve Gingera and Alex Emery cut the deficit to five leading TWU to call their first timeout to try to halt the switch in momentum. Ultimately, the early gap was too much to overcome given the short race to 15 for the 'Birds as Schmidt hammered the gold clinching kill for the 15-8 final set win.
The opening frame saw the T-Birds break open an early 10-5 lead, back-to-back
Gavin Moes kills followed by a Gingera service ace capping off a four point run. But the Spartans clawed back, slowly but surely, before closing out the 25-22 win with one of Schmidt's eight kills in the frame, leading the way for a TWU squad which hit at a whopping .625 clip.
Gingera began really putting his stamp on the match in the second set with a pair of violent cross-court kills helping the T-Birds to a 9-5 lead.
UBC expanded the gap to 13-8 on the longest rally of the match to that point, the blue and gold awarded a point after a TWU attack error led to the Canada West champions calling a timeout. Coming out of the break, the 'Birds only kept rolling as a Pratt block was followed by a Kieran Robinson-Dunning service ace for a seven point advantage.
Pratt put the exclamation mark on a tremendous bounce back set for the 'Birds with his sixth kill of the match, UBC making the gold a best-of-three with the 25-15 frame in their pocket.
The T-Birds kept their swagger in the pivotal third set, forcing TWU to take the first timeout of the frame with UBC up 10-7. TWU held their own, however, staying within striking distance down 13-11 after a massive back court kill from Piers De Greeff.
The Spartans had trouble at the line midway through the set, producing four straight service errors, but the conference champions eventually pulled even at 18-18. The cross-town rivals continued to trade points, forcing the set to extras where a kill off the fingertips of a T-Bird blocker gave TWU the 26-24 win, UBC needing the fourth to push the match the distance.
Errors continued to dog the Spartans in the fourth set and began to cost them, two straight kill attempts going out of bounds to push UBC to an 8-5 lead.
The Alex Emery block machine cranked up another notch, the second-year credited with two straight plays at the net to expand UBC's lead to 10-5, followed by a Mason Greves well-placed kill near the front of the Trinity Court. UBC continued to roll as the set progressed, the most well-rounded and best-executed frame of the match for the 'Birds which saw the blue and gold match their .474 hitting percentage from set two.
Yet another TWU service-based error, a line violation, pushed UBC to set point where Pratt threw up his fourth block of the match to push the gold medal contest to a fifth and deciding frame.
Schmidt topped all players with 24 kills for the Spartans while Gingera led the 'Birds with 14.
Emery had one of the best performances of his young Thunderbirds career, the second-year middle blocker posting a season-high 10 total blocks along with eight kills and a .700 hitting percentage.
It's a brutal sting to end the season for the 'Birds who had built toward this moment the last several seasons and an anticlimactic finish for graduating seniors Mason Greves, Logan Greves, Reeve Gingera and Kieran Robinson-Dunning.
But those four – and the team as whole – can indeed be supremely proud of U SPORTS silver, the program's sixth podium finish at the national championship tournament.
