Shorthanded T-Birds remain undefeated with straight sets win over Mount Royal

CALGARY – The No. 1 ranked UBC Thunderbirds lived up to their billing once again with a fifth consecutive straight sets victory, taking down the host Mount Royal Cougars (25-16, 25-19, 25-21) Friday night in Calgary.

“I didn’t think it was our cleanest performance but given that we had some injuries, we were on the road, it’s one of those nights when we’re happy to come away with a straight sets win,” said UBC head coach Doug Reimer. “We managed a new lineup and got some solid performances from young players.”

Given the aforementioned injuries, several inexperienced players were thrust into more prominent roles for the undefeated T-Birds (7-0), but proved themselves more than capable of the challenge.

Leonora Barbulovich-Nad started for the first time in her young UBC career, and finished the evening with a team-high .455 hitting percentage.

“Leo started and handled herself really well,” said Reimer of his young middle blocker. “You can learn lessons, even if you’re struggling in certain areas, you’re going to be in those kind of matches a lot so it’s a matter of how we can overcome it and how we can learn from it.”

That resiliency was shown early on Friday when the Cougars (4-3) staked out a 10-6 first set lead. But the T-Birds rallied to produce a 13-3 run of their own. MRU managed only seven kills in the opening set, the bulk of their points coming off UBC errors.

Regardless, the T-Birds closed the opening frame on a 7-3 run for the 25-16 win.

UBC carried some momentum into the second set, opening up a 6-1 gap. The Cougars tightened things to trail 12-10 halfway through only to have the T-Birds follow up with another impressive run to go up 18-11. Barbulovich-Nad secured the 25-19 set win with one of her six kills.

Facing an eight-point deficit in the third and the prospect of a very quick end to the evening, the Cougars put up a late fight to pull within two at 23-21. Trinity Solecki capped off a long rally with a cross-court kill to bring the T-Birds to match point. Akash Grewal hammered her eighth kill off a block attempt and out of bounds to clinch the victory while keeping UBC as the lone undefeated team in the Canada West.

Solecki led all players with 10 kills. Grewal and Jocelyn Lenarcic each had three service aces while libero Olivia Furlan racked up 14 digs.

The T-Birds’ seventh straight victory also ended Mount Royal’s four-game win streak.

Saturday will see the two battle once again as UBC will look to remain perfect on the road this season in what will be their final contest away from War Memorial in 2024.

First serve is set for 4:00 p.m. PT with the game available live on Canada West TV.