VANCOUVER – The crowd at War Memorial Gym was treated to a marathon match on an emotional night for the sport across the country as the UBC Thunderbirds pulled out a back-and-forth five-set victory (18-25, 25-10, 31-29, 27-29, 15-13) over the Calgary Dinos Friday evening.
The T-Birds notched 69 kills, their highest in a match in nearly four years, led by their trio of outside hitters. Reeve Gingera recorded 22 kills along with 8 digs, 4 blocks and 3 aces, while Conaire Taub and Gavin Moes both had 19 kills – a career-high for each of them. Taub added 8 digs and 2 blocks while Moes had 7 digs and 2 blocks.
Louis Kunstmann led the way for Calgary with 17 kills, 11 digs and five blocks. Jackson Meier also had an impressive performance with 12 kills and 5 blocks with a .526 hitting percentage.
The first set went back and forth early on with neither side able to pull ahead. Gingera served a powerful ace to tie things at 13, but after that the Dinos pulled ahead and took a 19-15 lead to force a UBC timeout. Unfortunately for the T-Birds, that did not stop the Calgary momentum as they pushed their advantage and took the set 25-18. The Dinos hit .476 as a team in the first set while UBC hit just .033.
However, that quickly changed in the second as the Thunderbirds dominated the frame. Back-to-back Gingera aces ballooned their early lead out to 11-3, and after a brief Calgary push, Taub scored three points in a row off a big block and two kills to make it 17-7. The Thunderbirds cruised to a 25-10 victory to even up the set count, forcing the Dinos into a -.185 hitting percentage in the second.
Calgary came out strong in the third, but a run of three straight kills by Taub pulled UBC back into it. The T-Birds jumped out to a 20-15 lead and looked to be in control of the set, but the Dinos responded with a 6-1 run of their own to tie it. From there, the two teams traded points before a Moes kill knotted things at 24 to push the set into some extra volleyball. The Thunderbirds staved off four Calgary set points over the course of the third, before Moes finally ended it at 31-29 with a kill, his eighth of the set.
The fourth began with the Dinos coming out strong once again, taking a 7-2 lead. UBC then started to crawl back into it, and a James Vincett ace followed by an emphatic Taub rejection cut the lead to just two in the middle of the set. Calgary responded with a run of their own to make it 24-19, but UBC again bounced back with five straight points to even things at 24-24, with Moes again getting the tying kill. The T-Birds battled hard to prolong the set, but the Dinos eventually pulled out a narrow 29-27 win to force a fifth.
UBC started the final set out right with a 6-2 run, but while they looked to be in control for a moment the Dinos fought back to tie it at 9-9. However, unlike the previous two sets this one ended at its scheduled time. A pair of Gingera kills were followed by Robinson-Dunning finishing off the Dinos with a big kill over the middle to make it 15-13.
Before the opening serve, a moment of silence was observed to honour three Canada West student-athletes from the Thompson Rivers University men’s volleyball team who were involved in a tragic motor vehicle accident earlier this week.
After the win, UBC’s record now stands at 7-4. The Thunderbirds have won six of their last seven matches. Meanwhile, the loss drops Calgary to 5-6 – their first time below .500 all season. Both teams’ final test before the winter break is a rematch of Friday’s thriller on Saturday night. It’s set to begin at 7:45 p.m. MT at War Memorial Gym.
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