Pristine offensive performance powers T-Birds to series split with Spartans

The UBC Thunderbirds put forth their best offensive showing of the season in a four-set home win (25-22, 23-25, 25-18, 25-21) over the Trinity Western Spartans.

The T-Birds recorded 53 kills on an incredible .449 hitting percentage, to go along with 10 blocks on the defensive end. They spread the attack very evenly as well, with all five of the starting hitters getting at least eight kills.

Mason Greves led the way with 49 assists, seven digs and four blocks, and Thunderbirds head coach Mike Hawkins was full of praise for his performance after the match.

“Obviously our attackers did a really good job putting the ball away, but I thought Mason distributed really well,” said Hawkins. “We were a little disappointed with how we played yesterday, but there were some key things that we saw in video that we wanted to execute, and I thought Mason did a really good job of orchestrating the offence.”

Dawson Pratt also had a fantastic night with 15 kills, four blocks and three aces, while rookie middle blocker Alex Emery put up eight kills and six blocks in his War Memorial Gym debut.

John Obi had a great night for the Spartans with 17 kills, four digs and four blocks. Piers de Greeff added 11 kills and six digs.

Kieran Robinson-Dunning started off strong in the first set with three early kills, but the offensive efficiency was flowing on both sides as the two teams traded points. There were 13 successive ties from 1-1 all the way up to 13-13, before a kill by Reeve Gingera followed by a block from Greves made it 15-13 for the home team.

Neither team could create any separation though, until the T-Birds turned up the heat in the final stages of the set. Down 21-20, an attack error by the Spartans was followed by a Gingera kill, a block from Emery and Greves, and another block from Emery and Pratt to set up the set victory.

The second set started very much the same as the first, without a real lead established before a kill from Pratt made it 11-8 UBC, forcing a Trinity timeout.

The Spartans refused to go away, and after trailing by a small amount for much of the set they took the advantage late. The T-Birds found themselves down 24-22, and although a kill from Robinson-Dunning staved off the set loss for the moment, the Spartans followed that up with a kill of their own to even up the score.

It was the UBC defence that got the team going in the third set, with three consecutive solo blocks from Pratt, Greves and Emery putting the score at 4-2. After Pratt served back-to-back aces to make it 8-4, the T-Birds were off and running.

The lead continued to grow throughout the set, and after a pair of kills in quick succession by Robinson-Dunning (part of his season-high eight on the night) the Thunderbirds were cruising. They eventually closed out the third 25-18, setting up a potentially decisive fourth set.

Determined not to let TWU back into it, the T-Birds again jumped out to an early lead as they went up 8-4 for the second straight set. The maintained their advantage through the middle portion of the fourth, with a kill from Gavin Moes making it 20-14 for the home team.

The Spartans had one final push in them, cutting the lead to 23-20 late on, but a big kill from Emery put a stop to that momentum, before Pratt got the winning kill just two plays later.

The T-Birds now head into a bye week, 3-3 on the season including a perfect 3-0 at home and 0-3 on the road. While it’s not been a perfect start for the Thunderbirds, they have certainly flashed their high potential at multiple points this season.

“I’m going to make a request to Canada West that we play all of our games at home,” joked Hawkins. “I think we have a lot of guys that are still working their way through the types of players that they want to be. Obviously we’ve got a lot of talent on the roster, but we gotta make sure we put guys in the right spot.”

The T-Birds will next take the court on November 22nd and 23rd, on the road at Mount Royal.