VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds (16-6) battled through four tough sets, but ultimately fell 3-1 (25-22, 25-20, 21-25, 26-24) to the Winnipeg Wesmen (16-6) in their home court finale on Senior’s Weekend at War Memorial Gym.
“Having gone down our missing setter this weekend, we still executed a lot of things pretty well,” said UBC head coach Doug Reimer after the T-Birds dropped their second match of the weekend without Kayla Oxland in the lineup. “There were times we were looking pretty good and battled better tonight. The bottom line is that we still didn’t match Winnipeg in their ability in a couple of areas, therefore our unforced errors were our Achilles heel.”
Elise Petit had a team-high 17 kills for the T-Birds, Jayde Robertsen had nine kills, Erika Vermette put up 10 kills and 13 digs, and Claire Cossarini had five kills with four blocks in the loss. Emma Parker racked up 20 kills and 14 digs for the Wesmen, Selva Planincic added 12 kills with 17 digs, while Ashleigh Laube had 10 kills and 16 digs in the series sweep.
Tied at 11-11 in the first set, the Wesmen went on a 5-1 run – capped off by a UBC error at 16-12. Another T-Bird error lifted Winnipeg to a 22-19 lead and a Parker kill gave the visitors a set point that they converted on a Planincic kill at 25-22.
In an equally tight second quarter, Vermette gave the ‘Birds a brief 17-14 advantage before the Wesmen evened the score at 20-20 after a Haille Bujan kill. Winnipeg then rattled off a 5-0 run and earned a set point on a T-Bird hitting error before closing out the set on another UBC error at 25-20.
Robertsen dropped an ace off the tape for a 5-2 T-Bird lead in the third set, and UBC outlasted the Wesmen in a marathon rally for a 10-7 edge. Parker trimmed the Winnipeg deficit to two with a kill at 17-15, but a Petit block forced a Wesmen timeout at 19-15. Petit put the ‘Birds up 22-19 with a tip before Robertsen ran around for a kill from the right side and the ‘Birds extended the match with a 25-21 set victory.
With the fourth set even at 17-17, Borowski scored a crucial kill – but Laube responded to maintain the deadlock. Borowski was back at it from the left side at 20-18 and then set up Erika Vermette for a kill at 22-20. Winnipeg fought back again to tie with a Laube kill at 23-23, and after a brief delay due to a substitution dispute, the Wesmen were awarded a match point at 24-23 and completed the series sweep.
“For the fans there who were unsure what happened, we’ve protested the match,” said Reimer, as the Thunderbirds will now prepare to finish the regular season on the road in Kamloops against the WolfPack. “I don’t know how it’ll get dealt with, but it revolved around a substitution that wasn’t recorded on the score sheet. Now we’ll focus on recovery and finding the belief that we’re going to play well and sustain good play. It’s a great challenge for our team to have to dig deep with one weekend left before we hit the playoffs.”