VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds (7-6) fell 3-1 (23-25, 25-22, 27-25, 25-19) on home court to the University of Saskatchewan Huskies (9-4) in their first test of 2023. The undermanned ‘Birds battled through four tight sets as rookie Reeve Gingera stepped into the starting lineup and delivered a standout performance with 15 kills and three blocks.
“It was great to see Reeve play so well in his first Canada West start,” said UBC head coach Mike Hawkins. “Obviously it’s not an easy position to come in and fill Matt Neaves’ shoes, but I thought, especially in the first set, he was a big reason for our success. For us though, there are a few things we need to clean up on the execution side. There were far too many attack errors, but other than that we just have to keep fighting.”
Michael Dowhaniuk put up a team-high 16 kills and three aces, Conaire Taub had 10 kills and two aces, and Coltyn Liu made his season debut at libero for the ‘Birds. Dylan Mortensen racked up a match-best 18 kills for the Huskies, while Levi Olson added 12 kills and five aces in the road victory.
The teams traded blows in the opening set through to a 22-22 tie and were even at 23-23 after a UBC error. Saskatchewan replied with another service error to hand the T-Birds a set point, and Gingera cranked a kill to take the first, 25-23.
The Huskies jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second before the ‘Birds fought back, and a monster Gingera block brought the T-Birds within one at 9-8. Umoren continued the block party with two of his own and a Dowhaniuk ace evened the score at 11-11. A Jack McGeough ace reestablished the tie at 20-20 and Olson dropped an ace for a Saskatchewan set point that he converted with another ace at 25-22.
UBC fell behind early in the third set before clawing back, as a Gingera block knotted it up at 18 points apiece. Olson served up an ace for a two-point lead and Jacob Rapin came up with a big block for a set point at 24-21. The Thunderbirds continued to battle and rattled off a crucial 4-0 run – capped off with a Dowhaniuk kill off the block to briefly take a 25-24 lead, but the Huskies held on and captured the set, 27-25.
Saskatchewan earned a five-point lead in the fourth with a Buchanan block at 21-16 and notched a match point with an Olson ace. Gingera briefly extended the match with a kill at 24-19, but the visitors held steady to close out the match on the following point.
The T-Birds will look to bounce back against the Huskies on Saturday evening at 6:45 p.m. (PT) inside War Memorial Gym.