VANCOUVER, British Columbia – For the second time in two nights the No. 4 Trinity Western Spartans fell to the No. 1 UBC Thunderbirds. After dropping a 3-2 decision Thursday night in Langley, B.C. the Spartans lost the second of the home-and-home series to the Thunderbirds 3-1 Friday night at War Memorial Gym in Vancouver, B.C. The 25-17, 25-15, 22-25, 25-22 loss drops the Spartans to 16-4, while the win moves the Thunderbirds to 18-2.
The Spartan’s second-year outside Maryn Boldon (Okotoks, Alta.) scored an impressive 14 kills, while teammate third-year middle Kaylee Plouffe (Sherwood Park, Alta.) contributed 10 kills, three aces and seven blocks. Third-year outside Grace McGillivray (Langley, B.C.) added four kills.
Third-year star outside hitter Lucy Borowski dominated the stat sheet for the ‘Birds with 17 kills, three blocks and an ace. The remaining UBC kills were evenly earned, with teammates Erika Vermette and Elizabeth Lee counting six kills each. Akash Grewal added five kills and three aces while Claire Cossarini also tallied five kills to go along with two aces.
AS IT HAPPENED
Both teams started shaky, sharing four attacking errors and knotting the match 5-5 until the T-Birds’ third-year standout, Grewal, responded with a pair of aces. The lead, however, was short-lived as the Spartans refused to give the ‘Birds breathing room, with TWU’s second-year outside hitter, Bolden, swiftly producing two powerful kills at the net, again evening the match at 13-13. Late in the frame, UBC gained stride with Borowski, racking up six kills and a service ace, culminating on a Victoria D’acre ace to give the ‘Birds a 25-17 opening set victory.
The visitors entered the second set looking strong, taking a narrow lead with third-year Spartan blocker Plouffe, looking dangerous at the net, launching two kills early on. The T-Birds responded with Borowski continuing her kill-streak from the first set, dominating the right side of the court with multiple, blistering, back-to-back kills. UBC maintained a comfortable lead with Cossarini stacking up blocks, Grewal serving aces, and Borowski smashing kills, forcing a Spartan timeout with the score 16-10. The ‘Birds rode momentum late into the frame, with a Solecki kill from the right side on the final play to secure a T-Birds 25-15 set win.
The Spartans looked eager to switch the script early in the third, quickly gaining a 6-2 lead with a flurry of powerful blocks, forcing the ‘Birds to use a timeout. After the pause, the T-Birds began crawling back, and with a D’Acre serve narrowly tipping over the net for an ace, the visitor’s lead was narrowed to 12-11, leading to TWU timeout. The Spartans looked strong following the break, increasing the lead to 17-12, but with an exuberant and nearly-full War Memorial Gym erupting with every home team point, the ‘Birds clawed their way to a 21-17 deficit aided by a continued Borowski hot streak propelling the blue and gold to a 22-22 tie-game thanks to an Elizabeth Lee rocket from the left side. The home crowd’s cheers were short-lived after a pair of Spartan kills from Bolden clinched the frame for TWU at 25-22.
Both teams traded points early in the fourth, the Spartans gaining a slim lead with Plouffe and Boldon leading TWU in kills at seven and nine, respectively, but as the frame progressed, the T-Birds responded at the net accumulating kills to eventually even the score 9-9 from a pair of Erika Vermette aces. Evenly matched in the middle of the frame, both teams traded points, but TWU’s Plouffe proved dangerous at the net, continuing to utilize any T-Bird mistakes in the air. UBC called a timeout as the frame progressed to a 20-17 TWU lead. After the pause, the ‘Birds jumped in front 22-21 after a marathon rally, with Solecki finishing the exchange by forcing past a Spartan blocker for the kill and a TWU timeout. Following the break, the ‘BIrds continued to use momentum, and at 24-22, a diving D’Acre save led to a seamless setup for Lee to blast the ball out of reach for TWU and into a T-Bird win 25-22 as War Memorial Gym erupted in cheers.
QUOTABLE TWU Head Coach Ryan Hofer
“It was a tough match tonight, but I’m really proud of the grit resilience, and fight that the girls came back with after having one of their fellow players injured. They just regrouped and went back out there and played. I thought they showed a lot of fortitude, and I thought they rallied around each other really well and I’m really proud of them. There’s an enormous amount of learning and growing that took place and it will better prepare us for the remainder of the season.”
NOTABLE
TWU finished the night hitting .145 (37-20-117), while UBC finished hitting at .225 (51-24-120).
The Thunderbirds had a 13-8 edge in service aces.
UBC had the edge in blocks 14-8.
The Thunderbirds finished with 49 digs to the Spartans 36.
The Spartans are 29-57 lifetime against the Thunderbirds.
Prior to this weekend TWU last lost to UBC, 3-2, at the U SPORTS championship in Vancouver, B.C. March 19, 2023.
Before this weekend the Spartans had won 10 of 11 matches against the Thunderbirds.
UP NEXT
The Spartans will now return home for senior weekend when they will host the MacEwan Griffins for the final conference games on February 9-10. Start times at the Langley Events Centre are set for 5 p.m. (PT) and 4 p.m. (PT) 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.
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