VANCOUVER – The number one seed, UBC Thunderbirds, swept the eighth-ranked TRU Wolfpack in straight sets 3-0, (25-15, 25-12, 25-12) in game one of the best-of-three Canada West quarter-final series at War Memorial Gym on Friday night.
Consistent play in all areas secured a victory for the home team, as they committed only seven attack errors, zero on the receiving end, and only one on the setting side, while also not allowing a single ace throughout the game from the Wolfpack.
Erika Vermette led the team with ten kills and a .667 hit percentage, while Akash Grewal added eight kills and four service aces. Emma Doyon contributed six kills and was the anchor on the defensive side of the net with a block and three block assists, and Lucy Borowski punched in another nine kills.
Brooklyn Olfert led the Wolfpack with seven kills while Ema Palkovicova added four kills.
“I thought the steadiness of our play in all key areas was really good,” said UBC head coach Doug Reimer. “I think we put a lot of pressure on them from the service line and I thought we passed the ball well. Across the board we showed the right balance of focus, not pressing, not being too busy so lots of kudos to go around. Good thing we’re not giving out game balls because that would have been expensive tonight.”
It was back and forth on the attacks at the net to start the first set, as kills came from Olfert and Palkovicova, but Grewal was on fire in delivering two quick kills and an ace early on. Doyon converted back-to-back aces after getting a kill and a block.
Borowski found back-to-back kills to continue the T-Birds’ strong start. But that wasn’t the end, as she continued to stay the course, finding another kill from the pipe as the ‘Birds continued to hold the momentum. UBC’s consistent gameplay shut down everything the Wolfpack sent at them in the first set punctuated with an emphatic kill from Trinity Solecki to secure the opening stanza 25-15 for the blue and gold.
“Obviously the score is not flattering and I don’t think we represented ourselves great,” commented TRU head coach Chad Grimm. “You can point to a lot of different reasons for that but at the end of the day they dominated the serve and pass battle. Defensively we weren’t good enough to slow them down, they sided out too easily and then when that happens you get a score like that.”
Borowski carried over the momentum to the second set by earning two quick kills to put the T-Birds in the driver’s seat early on. Olfert tried to respond with back-to-back kills, but the ‘Birds held an 11-5 lead midway through the middle frame, as Grewal imposed her will from the service line. The third-year outside hitter increased UBC’s lead to a 12-point gap en route to taking the set 25-12
The T-Birds didn’t waiver in set number three, as Grewal got on board with another kill, followed by an ace to give her a game high four from the service line on the night. Meanwhile, Emma Doyon dominated the play at the net securing three consecutive kills midway through the third, as the T-Birds maintained the same level of play to close out the final stanza 25-12 and completing the game one sweep.
“We didn’t give up a service ace and they’ve got some great servers,” added Reimer. “Just looking through the stats there are a lot of standout numbers including hitting efficiency and I’m really pleased with that; we have to enjoy that because it’s important but we’ll have to reset. We’ve watched a lot of video on TRU and they’ve been playing very good volleyball and we definitely expect them to bring a tougher battle tomorrow.”
Up next, both teams will square off for game two on Saturday evening with a 5:00 p.m. PT. start at War Memorial Gym, as the T-Birds look to close the series out, and the Wolfpack try to stay alive in the Canada West playoffs. Catch all the action on Canada West TV.