T-Birds drop another tight test with TWU

For the second straight night, the UBC Thunderbirds (5-5) fell to the defending U SPORTS national champion Trinity Western Spartans (10-0) in four close sets (25-18, 25-22, 23-25, 29-27) at War Memorial Gym.

“It was a similar story to last night,” said UBC head coach Mike Hawkins after another narrow defeat. “It was just two teams battling it out like a heavyweight slugfest, and kudos to them – they made plays down the stretch when they needed to and unfortunately, we didn’t.”

Matt Neaves led the ‘Birds with a team-high 15 kills and added two aces, six digs and four total blocks, while Michael Dowhaniuk and Coltyn Liu each had 10 kills. Gerard Murray put up eight kills with an ace, four digs and six total blocks, while setter Mason Greves came up big in the fourth set – finishing the night with 44 assists, 10 digs, five total blocks, and a kill.

“It’s something that’s probably going to go unnoticed,” said Hawkins after Mason Greves equalled his T-Bird career-high in assists and set a new mark in total blocks. “But being a first-year setter is tough. Commanding the offense and commanding the team with all eyes on you as a first year is intimidating and he’s doing a really good job. He’s really poised, obviously super skilled, and doing a great job for us offensively. His poise and confidence are really helping everybody around him.”

Brodie Hofer racked up another 20 kills for the Spartans, Jackson Howe had eight kills with 10 blocks, and Jordan Schnitzer tallied ten kills with five total blocks in TWU’s tenth consecutive victory.

Murray fired an ace to put the T-Birds up 9-7 in the first, but Hofer tied it at 10–10 with a kill and the teams remained even through 14-14. Mathias Elser came up with a block and Howe earned a kill for a narrow edge at the technical timeout. The Spartans continued to attack well, and a Mathias Elser ace lifted TWU to a set point before Howe finished it with a kill at 25-18.

Howe served up an ace for a 9-5 lead in the second, but UBC battled back to a 10-10 tie on a Dowhaniuk block. The set stayed knotted up until 15-15 when Isaiah Olfert crushed an ace and Hofer picked up another kill. A Jessie Elser block gave the Spartans their first set point at 24-19 and, despite a late push by the Murray and the ‘Birds, TWU won the set 25-22.

Liu opened the third set with an ace for UBC and Mason Greves tied it at 8-8 with a block before Liu notched back-to-back kills. The T-Birds continued a 7-1 run – including a pair of aces from Mason Greves and a James Vincett block to lead 14-9 and force a TWU timeout. UBC held on and earned a set point on a Neaves ace and Dowhaniuk won it with a kill, 25-23.

?? MVB | @ubcmvb take the third set over @TWUSpartans 25-23 & advance to 1-2. #GoBirdsGo pic.twitter.com/LJwGQLjkuG

— UBC Thunderbirds (@ubctbirds) January 30, 2022

Mason Greves evened up the fourth set with a tip at 10-10 and Liu scored on a tip at 17-15 ‘Birds, but Mathias Elser tied it at 17-17. Tied at 27-27, UBC was called for a net violation and Hofer pounced on an over-pass to win the match at 29-27.

“We’re definitely going to work on some digging,” said Hawkins as the Thunderbirds now head into another bye week. “We need to pick up a few more balls and I think that was pretty apparent this weekend. More than anything, we want to keep getting healthy and keep refining things. We know we have a long stretch through February and March, and this is kind of our last break before a long haul, so we’ll take a little bit of rest and get right back to work.”

After their bye, the ‘Birds will take a trip to Abbotsford to face the University of Fraser Valley Cascades on February 11^th and 12^th, while the Spartans also have a bye before visiting Kamloops to take on the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack.