VANCOUVER – the UBC Thunderbirds fought back multiple times to force a fifth set but were outlasted by the Mount Royal Cougars 3-2 (25-22, 26-28, 25-23, 20-25, 16-14) in a dramatic home-opening match Friday evening at War Memorial Gym.
The new-look T-Birds were led by a career-night from Reeve Gingera who had 23 kills and 7 digs. Gavin Moes recorded 11 kills and 3 digs in his first Canada West outing while Mason Greves posted a game-high 46 assists and 10 digs.
Chris Byam paced the Cougars with 22 kills, 8 digs and 2 kills. Fellow senior Luis Lange was a big presence in the middle with 12 kills and a match-high 6 blocks.
The first set was quite choppy as the two teams combined for 19 service errors. Byam got off to a fast start with 4 kills and the Cougars edged out UBC 25-22 as they hit over .500 as a team in the set.
MVB | A great block by @ubcmvb‘s Gavin Moes, giving the T-Birds a win against MRU 28-26 in the second set. #GoBirdsGo
The T-Birds cleaned things up in the second as Gingera came alive with 9 of his kills in the set. MRU went on a run late to push both teams past the 25-point barrier but back-to-back kills from Gingera and Moes put UBC ahead 28-26.
The third set was another nail biter, as Mason Greves rose up for a kill and Jesse Umoren landed one of his five emphatic blocks on the night to tie the score at 15-15. From there the Cougars took the lead and were up 24-21, but UBC battled back with two straight points to force an MRU timeout before Byam ended the set with a big kill to make it 25-23.
Down in set count for the second time on the night, the ‘Birds showed resilience and heart as they again battled to even up the score. Their offence came alive in the fourth as they roared out to an 18-12 lead and didn’t look back from there, taking the set 25-20 with 12 kills and just 2 attack errors as a team.
That momentum carried over to the start of the fifth as a series of errors by the Cougars pushed UBC out in front. A Nicholas Johnson ace gave UBC match point up 14-11, but disaster struck as MRU reeled off three straight points to even the score. Back-to-back aces by Cougars’ setter Samson Olsen then ended the match at 16-14.
The two teams will meet once again in a rematch Saturday night with the opening serve scheduled for 6:45 p.m. (PT) at War Memorial Gym.