VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds (6-4) will look to continue their run of strong play when they host the Calgary Dinos (5-5) at War Memorial Gym in their final games of the fall semester. Each match will begin after the schools’ women’s teams play, scheduled for 7:45 p.m. (PT) on Friday and 6:45 p.m. (PT) on Saturday.
The T-Birds sit third in a very tight Canada West standings, five spots ahead of Calgary despite the one-win difference in their records. The ‘Birds have been steadily climbing those standings of late by winning five of their last six games, including four in a row on the road. Most recently, UBC picked up a pair of 3-0 wins visiting the UFV Cascades, holding their foes in the valley under 20 points in all but one set of each match.
“I think particularly this past weekend, we just seemed to play with a bit more freedom,” reflected UBC head coach Mike Hawkins. “In the first couple of weeks, with such a young group, I think we were pressing in all situations. Then against UFV we just played clean and simple. We got back to playing UBC volleyball.”
The ‘Birds are 5-1 this year against teams not ranked top 10 in the country. They’re leading Canada West in points per set, kills per set, assists per set, and digs per set.
“I think the strength of our team is that it isn’t about one guy,” mused Hawkins. “We’ve been able to distribute our attack volume across our offence. Against UFV our middles didn’t get a ton of volume, but I thought they played very well. They were the ones who opened up the offence for our three outside hitters and our threes outsides are just playing smart. Gavin (Moes) has stepped up more and more as he gets used to our league. Conaire (Taub) and Reeve (Gingera) are just two really solid attacking outsides. All three of them are very different, which provides a unique dynamic for our offence.”
The Greves brothers have also been outstanding for the T-Birds, with Mason leading the conference in assists per set and Logan leading the conference in digs per set; Mason sits third in that category as well.
Calgary travels to UBC’s Point Grey campus after a 1-3 homestand in which they split a pair of games against the Cascades and lost two to U SPORTS No.7-ranked Mount Royal, who the T-Birds split a series with earlier this year. However, the Dinos won both matchups against the ‘Birds last season, 3-0 and 3-1, before making a run to the Canada West Bronze Medal game.
“Calgary has a ton of quality, a lot of guys with experience, a few of whom can be absolute game-breakers on any given night,” said Hawkins. “We know that we need to play UBC volleyball. That is aggressive from the service line, stable and disciplined in block defence and an overwhelming, multi-faceted offence. Plus, we can rely on the crowd at War Memorial to help push us over the top.”
The team won’t play at War Memorial Gym again for more than a month a half after this weekend’s break, as they will be off until early January and then play their first four games of 2024 on the road. UBC next plays in front of the home crowd on January 19th against Regina.
Tickets to all UBC home games can be purchased here. Stream the action live or on demand on Canada West TV.