T-Birds edge Wesmen to claim Canada West Bronze and berth to U SPORTS Championships

VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds punched their ticket to the U SPORTS men’s volleyball national championship thanks to a five-set marathon victory 3-2 (25-22, 22-25, 22-25, 25-21, 15-10) over the Winnipeg Wesmen at a sold-out War Memorial Gym on a Saturday evening.

Second-year outside hitter Reeve Gingera made a triumphant return to the T-Birds lineup after he was forced to sit out both the quarter-final and semi-final series due to a concussion. Gingera led the team with a trip to the nationals on the line, finishing with 19 kills while adding three aces. Gavin Moes and Conair Taub had 14 kills each as well as three and one service aces, respectively.
 

?? MBB | @ubcmvb takes the fifth set 15-10 over @WesmenMVB to close out the marathon match 3-2 and capture the @CanadaWest Championship bronze medal! ??#GoBirdsGo

??: https://t.co/TdjaH9qtA1 pic.twitter.com/d1RrNZOJrK

— UBC Thunderbirds (@ubctbirds) March 10, 2024

“Reeve obviously came in, as he was battling a concussion and worked his tail off to get to this point,” said head coach Mike Hawkins. “The thing that I’m most proud of is that he didn’t force situations. He had maybe one error that I felt that he might’ve been pressing a little bit, but he made the game come to him.”

“I think the home court advantage helped out as they were pretty comfortable in that fifth set,” said Wesmen head coach Larry McKay. “They had a better fifth set than us and overall, their blocking was a little better in the match than ours but at times we showed a real good level. I’m pretty ok with how we played against UBC and pretty pleased to see UBC play as well as they did too, they looked quite good. I think we had a great season and I’m proud of my team and who they are as representatives of the program, there’s a long history and storied tradition with our program and the guys represented that very well.”

Isaiah Olfert led the Wesmen with a game-high 21 kills and three aces, while Nigel Nielsen contributed another 13 kills and an ace for the visitors.

The game started off with both teams trading points, as neither of the teams were able to get garner momentum. Gingera with 2 kills off the blockers provided the spark for the Thunderbirds. Conaire Taub added a kill into the back rows and followed it up with an ace, but Olfert kept the Wesmen at bay. He led them with five kills in the first.
The ‘Birds earned four consecutive points to continue their run, as Kieran Robinson-Dunning got a block and a kill, followed by a kill by Taub and Moes.

The Wesmen brought it within two with kills by Olfert and Nielsen, but Gingera and Moes sealed the deal with back-to-back kills and took set number one, 25-21.

The visitors jumped out to a quick start in the second, scoring three unanswered, but a few mistakes committed by the Wesmen stalled the offense, while Gingera connected for three consecutive aces to give the ‘Birds a 9-4 lead.

Olfert and Nielsen tied the game up at 17-17 and forced a timeout call from Hawkins. Both teams traded points, but Winnipeg took the second set, 25-22, as Olfert served an ace and Ethan Duncan secured the set point off the attack from the middle.

The visitors continued the hot run. Nielsen set the tone for the team, as he was controlling the pace at the service line that put Olfert in the driver’s seat as he delivered six kills for the Wesmen. Gingera led the T-Birds with six kills in the third, but that wasn’t enough to bring the team back into the third, as the Wesmen, despite some late mistakes, closed the third set 25-22 and took a 2-1 lead in sets.

In the fourth frame it was Gingera who came out hot once again recording two quick kills to put the Birds in the early lead, but the Wesmen responded with two kills from Olfert, who continued his form, propping his squad into a 9-7 lead.

While Olfert was the hot hand, Jackson Rose scored back-to-back kills to tie the game up at 14-14. But James Vincent was a factor late in the fourth set.

“Tree… [James Vincent] had a laundry list of injuries this semester,” emphasized Hawkins. “It was tough for him to get going, and Kieran [Robinson-Dunning] and Jesse [Umoren] have done a great job of holding the fort down for us really for a good chunk of time, but Tree has done a heck of a job offensively; he was fine, but defensively he had the blocks that won’t show up on the stat sheet just slowing balls down.”

He secured a block and back-to-back kills that ignited the momentum and put them in the lead, 20-17. Two right-sided consecutive kills from Taub forced set number five.
The Birds stayed the course, Gavin Moes found the kill down the middle, followed it with an ace to put them in an early lead in the fifth, 5-2. Rose kept the Wesmen close, scoring on three attacks, making it 8-6, but Moes secured multiple kills through the blockers. The four-point deficit was too large to overcome, as the last attempt to keep the game alive by the Wesmen sailed off from the attack by Nielsen.

The Thunderbirds next will head to Kingston, Ontario, to compete at the U SPORTS Men’s Volleyball Championship that begins March 14 through 17 at Queen’s University.