VANCOUVER, BC – The fans at War Memorial Gym were treated to an electric performance from the UBC Thunderbirds who clawed back from an early 2-0 deficit to complete the 3-2 comeback victory (27-29, 21-25, 25-14, 25-23, 15-8) against the Saskatchewan Huskies. The win gives the T-Birds a 1-0 lead in their best-of-three Canada West Quarter-final series.
The Thunderbirds got big-time contributions from up and down the roster, including from rookie Dawson Pratt who came off the bench to record eight kills and 15 digs, both season-highs by a wide margin.
“15 digs is insane, he’s such a good blocker as well,” said Thunderbirds head coach Mike Hawkins about Pratt’s impact. “For him to come in, in a really difficult match, halfway through the match and play as well as he did is really impressive.”
Multiple other T-Birds had banner nights as well. Gavin Moes broke his season-highs in both kills (26) and digs (14), with the kill total tying the UBC program record for most in a playoff match. Mason Greves broke a UBC single playoff match record with 21 digs along with 51 assists and six blocks, while Kieran Robinson-Dunning put up a season-high 12 kills.
On the side of the Huskies, Isaiah Mamer had 17 kills and 12 digs, while Emmett Graham recorded 17 kills and nine digs.
The first set was back and forth throughout. Consecutive kills from Conaire Taub and Nick Taub put UBC up 14-12, but the Huskies then went on a 7-2 run to take the lead right back.
After a Nick Taub kill knotted the score at 24, the two teams went back and forth in an extra period of play before Saskatchewan finally ended it with a 29-27 win.
The Thunderbirds got off to a stronger start in the second, but the Huskies again put together a big run to go up 15-11 and force a UBC timeout.
The visitors were able to play from the front for the rest of the set. Down 23-17, the Thunderbirds ripped off four straight points in a valiant effort to keep the set alive, but the Huskies were able to close it out with a score of 25-21.
The third frame began with a strong opening from the T-Birds, with back-to-back kills from Pratt making it 7-2 for UBC. This time, they were able to hold off a run from the Huskies, and surged back ahead with two straight blocks from Conaire Taub and Jesse Umoren making it 16-11.
A kill from Moes stretched the lead out to 20-12, and Saskatchewan was unable to threaten from there. A Robinson-Dunning kill capped off a dominant 25-14 performance in the set for the T-Birds.
The Huskies came out with some fire in the fourth, going up 3-0 early, but consecutive kills from Umoren and Moes capped a 6-1 UBC run to take the lead. Neither team could create separation in the middle part of the set, before Moes landed two straight points to make it 20-18 for UBC.
Moes then notched another kill – his ninth of the set – to give the Thunderbirds set point at 24-23. From there another block from the duo of Umoren and Conaire Taub sent the teams to a fifth and final set.
Taub turned it up a notch in the fifth, powering UBC to a 6-3 lead with three early kills. Their momentum snowballed from there with a block from Umoren and Greves making it 10-4 and putting the T-Birds in the driver’s seat.
UBC cruised to the end of the set from there, with Robinson-Dunning scoring the final point to win the fifth 15-8 and the match 3-2.
“Kudos to our guys for just following the plan,” added coach Hawkins. “When you’re down certain guys the margins for success are really small…the first two sets I think we were kind of just dipping our toes in the pool a little bit, and the last three sets I think we just dove in.”
The Thunderbirds and Huskies will be right back at it Saturday night at War Memorial Gym at 7:00 p.m. (PST) for the second match of the best-of-three series. If UBC wins again, they will advance to the Canada West Semifinals for the first time since the 2019-20 season.
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