VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds (6-3) fell in four tight sets, 3-1 (25-23, 27-25, 20-25, 29-27) to the University of Alberta Golden Bears (6-1) on an electric Pride Night inside War Memorial Gym.
“For us, the story of the match was just sticking to our assignments and making sure we were doing our job with the small details,” said UBC head coach Mike Hawkins. “I thought we did the big things well. I thought we served well…our offence wasn’t extremely efficient, but I thought we made the right shots and the right choices. It was just small little assignments that were breaking down. That’s not really what cost us the game at the end, but I think we could’ve put ourselves in better situations for sure.”
Michael Dowhaniuk put up 20 kills with six digs for the T-Birds, Matt Neaves had 13 kills with three aces and nine digs, while Gerard Murray and Jesse Umoren each tallied five total blocks in the narrow loss.
Isaac Heslinga racked up 18 kills and eight digs in the win, Braedon Friesen had 13 kills with six digs, and Jordan Canham added 13 kills with 11 digs and five blocks for the Golden Bears – who have now won six straight matches.
“There’s a reason this is our favourite night of the year,” said UBC head coach Mike Hawkins after the UBC Pride Night celebration of LGBTQIA2S+ pride in partnership with the UBC Pride Collective and Lululemon – including fundraising in support of QMunity. “The electricity in this room is incredible. The love and support that we get is amazing…and obviously celebrating love is a pretty cool thing to be a part of. You can feel it on the bench, and you can feel it on the court. It definitely makes the game a little more exciting.”
Down 18-15 in the first set, Neaves unloaded on a kill down the line and the ‘Birds made it a one-point deficit on a Dowhaniuk kill at 21-20. Murray extended the set with a kill at 24-23, but Heslinga capped off the set with a tip at 25-23.
Dowhaniuk ripped a cross-court kill for a 10-9 edge in the second and, with the score even at 17-17, Murray dropped one of his three aces on the night for the lead. The back-and-forth battle continued through a 21-21 tie, until Canham ripped an ace and Heslinga scored on a back row kill for a two-point lead. Jesse Umoren earned a solo block out of the T-Bird timeout and Conaire Taub came up with a block to tie it at 24-24. At 25-25 Heslinga got up for a kill and the visitors took the set, 27-25, with a block.
The ‘Birds jumped out to an 8-2 cushion in the third set and Murray won a joust at the net for a 9-3 lead before coming up with a block on the next play. Heslinga scored at 17-12 T-Birds, but Conaire Taub lifted UBC to a 23-18 advantage on a kill. Dowhaniuk gave the ‘Birds a set point up 24-19 and crushed a kill to take the set 25-20 and extend the match to a fourth set.
UBC came out strong in the fourth, as a Murray ace made it 8-5, but Friesen knotted it up at 12-12 with a kill. The Golden Bears took the lead at 19-18 and held a 22-20 edge after a T-Bird error. An Alberta service error kept the match alive at 24-23, Murray got up for a block to tie it at 24-24, and UBC earned a set point on an attack error. Canham scored from the back row to knot it up at 25-25 and the battle continued until a pair of Canham kills closed it out at 29-27.
The two teams will square off again on Saturday evening at War Memorial Gym with first serve slated for 6:45 p.m.
“I thought tonight we just got really undisciplined at really unfortunate times,” added Hawkins. “I think if we do the small things a little bit better earlier on tomorrow night it’ll put us in better situations.”