NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP REMATCH BETWEEN UBC AND TWU GOES TO THUNDERBIRDS

LANGLEY, British Columbia – The U SPORTS championship rematch between the No. 4 Trinity Western Spartans and the No. 1 UBC Thunderbirds did not disappoint as UBC earned a five-set victory over TWU Thursday night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The 25-18, 21-25, 25-19, 23-25, 15-12 loss drops the Spartans to 16-3, while the win moves the Thunderbirds to 17-3.

Third-year middle Kaylee Plouffe (Sherwood Park, Alta.) with 13 kills, fourth-year outside Kirsten Kampman (Chilliwack, B.C.) with 11 kills, and second-year outside Maryn Boldon (Okotoks, Alta.) with eight kills led the Spartans. Lucy Borowski with 19 kills, and six blocks, and Claire Cossarini with 12 kills, and seven blocks led the Thunderbirds.

TWU third-year setter Kandra Kern (Edmonton, Alta.) finished with 31 set assists, while UBC’s setter Issy Robertshaw finished with 38 set assists and seven digs. TWU’s third-year libero Mikayla McBain (Burlington, Ont.) finished with 17 digs, while UBC”s Kacey Jost finished with 20 digs.

AS IT HAPPENED
In the first set the Thunderbirds were the better team early and used a 6-2 run to jump out to a 12-7 lead. The Spartans were unable to close the gap as UBC took the first set 25-18. The Spartans had trouble on the attack and hit at -.227 (2-7-22), while Thunderbirds hit at .207 (11-5-29).
 
The second set was a game of runs. The two teams were even early in the second set to start. Then the Thunderbirds went on a mini run to take a 10-7 lead after a kill by Borowski. The Spartans responded with their own run and after five straight serves by fourth-year middle Jayda Harder (Waldheim, Sask.), including an ace, had taken a 13-10 lead. Another run from UBC put the Thunderbirds up 18-16. Again TWU responded with a 4-2 run to tie the set at 20-20. The Spartans continued their run to close out the second set with a 25-21 win to tie the match at 1-1.  TWU finished set hitting .176 (11-5-34), while UBC finished at .154 (10-6-26).
 
The two teams were even again for the majority of the third set. Then with the two teams side at 17-17 the Thunderbirds caught fire. UBC closed out the set with 8-2 run to take the second set 25-19 and a 2-1 set lead. TWU finished the set hitting at .036 (9-8-28), while UBC finished at .346 (11-2-26).
 
The fourth set was again evenly matched as the two teams matched each other point-for-point and were tied at 9-9. Then TWU’s Boldon got a serving run going for the Spartans and forced Thunderbirds to call a timeout with the Spartans leading 12-9. TWU extended the lead to 13-9, but UBC’s Grewal got the Thunderbirds back into the set with her own serving run to tie the set at 14-14. The two teams remained even at 16-16, but back-to-back errors by UBC put TWU up 18-16. The Thunderbirds took 5-1 run to 21-19 lead. After exchanging points, UBC went to 23-20. Out of a TWU timeout, a Boldon kill and two UBC attack errors made it 23-23. After an extended rally TWU fourth-year outside Tamar Bil (Maple Ridge, B.C.) put here line attack off of the block to put TWU up 24-23. TWU’s Harder got the block on the next point to tie the match at 2-2 with a 25-23 TWU win. TWU hit at .103 (10-6-39), while UBC hit at .140 (14-8-43).
 
In the fifth set TWU took the early 5-3 lead after a Boldon kill. UBC’s Jocelyn Lenarcic tied the set at 6-6, but TWU was able to take an 8-7 lead at the changeover. After a UBC block and a kill by the Thunderbirds Borowski the Thunderbirds had earned a two-point lead, up 10-8, and forced the Spartans into a timeout. The Spartans took three of the next five points and after a Plouffe ace the Thunderbirds called a timeout with a 12-11 lead. Out of the timeout, UBC put up the block to the TWU rally as back-to-back blocks gave the Thunderbirds set point at 14-11. TWU’s Boldon held of set point, but a Spartan service error gave the final set to the T-Birds, 15-12 and the match 3-2.

QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Ryan Hofer
“”It’s always an exciting weekend playing UBC. There is a good comradery and a healthy respect for each other. On our side, there were a few things that we did really well. Our serve receive and our defence did a good job of holding up, but I felt that our attack wasn’t where it normally was and our serving in wasn’t quite where it needed to be either. UBC is a good defensive team. We are going to have to work hard and be creative and find solutions and other parts of our game when our attack isn’t where it needs to be. Tomorrow we have a chance to fix a few things, make a few changes, and see what we can do.”

NOTABLE

• TWU finished the night hitting .066 (39-30-137), while UBC finished hitting at .237 (56-23-139).
• The Spartans had an 8-5 edge in service aces, and service errors 14-25.
• UBC had the edge in blocks 13-6.
• Last week Trinity Western swept by the Thompson River WolfPack, 3-2, and 3-1 in Kamloops, B.C.
• Last week UBC split with the Manitoba Bisons, winning 3-0 on Friday, and losing 3-2 on Saturday in Vancouver, B.C.
• The Spartans are 29-56 lifetime against the Thunderbirds.
• Prior to tonight TWU last lost to UBC, 3-2, at the U SPORTS championship in Vancouver, B.C. March 19, 2023.
• Before that match the Spartans had won 10 of 11 matches against the Thunderbirds.

 
UP NEXT
The Spartans and Thunderbirds will finish off the two-game home-and-home series tomorrow evening in Vancouver, B.C. Match time at the War Memorial Gym is set for 6 p.m. and can be seen live on Canada West TV.

About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 13 sports in the Canada West conference, including women’s and men’s soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey, cross country, and track & field, as well as women’s rugby sevens. TWU also competes as an independent team in men’s rugby. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 14 U SPORTS team championships and 34 Canada West team championships.
 
-TW-