VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds earned a straight sets, 3-0 (25-11, 25-22, 25-17) victory over the University of Alberta Pandas (5-2) in front of a packed Pride Night crowd at War Memorial Gym to improve to 7-0 on the Canada West season.
“The players train hard and want to play well in front of a crowd like this,” said UBC head coach Doug Reimer on a night that celebrated LGBTQIA2S+ pride in partnership with the UBC Pride Collective and Lululemon, while fundraising to support QMunity – a Vancouver-based non-profit organization that works to improve queer, trans, and Two-Spirit lives. “We appreciate everyone coming out. It’s also great to see a lot of high school teams and younger players come out. For the most part we set the tone from the service line, and we were really efficient offensively. Especially in the second set…no hitting errors stands out on the stats sheet. I’m pleased with our offence overall and I thought we did a good job blocking at the net and were able to take things away from Alberta.”
Lucy Borowski had a match-best 15 kills and 14 digs for the Thunderbirds, Elise Petit put up nine kills with five aces and three blocks, and Emma Doyon racked up six blocks with four digs in the victory.
Lauryn Tremblay led the Pandas with eight kills and had seven digs, Meghan John tallied five kills, and Mackenzie Pool added six kills with five digs in the loss.
The ‘Birds stormed out to an 11-1 lead in the first before Sona Sajeev earned a tip at the net for the Pandas to cut the deficit to 17-8. A Borowski tip lifted the T-Birds to a 22-10 advantage, and they comfortably captured the opening set on an Alberta error at 25-11.
Petit teed up two aces for a 5-1 edge in the second, but the Pandas regrouped and tied it at 6-6 with a John kill. The two teams went toe-to-toe in a marathon rally at 8-7 that Petit punctuated with a kill for a two-point lead. Petit was back at it late in the set with a kill down the line at 23-16, but Laila Johnston scored for the Pandas before a Tremblay ace brought Alberta within four. The home team refocussed and finished the frame with a Borowski kill for a 25-22 set win.
UBC setter Kayla Oxland picked up a kill with a tip at 13-6 ‘Birds in the third set and Borowski added a block at 21-15, before Emma Doyon came up with a block at 24-17 and the ‘Birds took the set 25-17 on an Alberta error to complete the straight-sets win.
The T-Birds and Pandas will now prepare for a rematch on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. (PT) inside War Memorial Gym.
“We have to be prepared tomorrow for an Alberta team that will bring a stronger level of play,” added Reimer. “We need to be well prepared from the service line and attack…there are always a few adjustments that need to be made when you play a team back-to-back.”