T-Birds prevail in hard fought 3-1 victory vs Wolfpack

VANCOUVER – Despite a couple of late scares, the UBC Thunderbirds pulled out a big home win 3-1 (25-17, 22-25, 25-23, 25-20) over the TRU Wolfpack. The Thunderbirds racked up 48 kills as a team and played from the front for most of the match.
 
After UBC jumped out to sizable leads in both the third and fourth sets the Wolfpack came storming back, but T-Birds head coach Mike Hawkins was pleased with how his team weathered the storm to pull out the win.
 
“Even when we found ourselves with leads in sets, I think we understood that they were going to come back and really put us in tough spots,” said Hawkins. “But what mattered most is in those difficult moments we stayed true to who we are individually and collectively and made the shots that we know we can.”
 

MVB | THAT’S GAME! @ubcmvb ends the night with a big victory against @GoTRUWolfPack winning the fourth set 25-20!

The T-Birds will be back playing the second game of the back-to-back series against TRU tomorrow at 6:45 pm at War Memorial Gym! #GoBirdsGo pic.twitter.com/xpbFc8Go1n

— UBC Thunderbirds (@ubctbirds) November 18, 2023

Reeve Gingera led UBC offensively with 16 kills and three aces along with six digs. Gavin Moes was very efficient with 14 kills and nine digs while hitting .414. James Vincett was big in the middle with a match-high five blocks to go with seven kills.
 
Sam Flowerday recorded 10 kills, eight digs and two aces for the Wolfpack while Rylan Ibbetson led the visitors in kills with 11.
 
The Thunderbirds jumped out to a fast start in the first set, as Moes landed back-to-back kills to put them up 8-4. Kieran Robinson-Dunning, making his first start as a Thunderbird, notched a kill and an ace in successive possessions to extend the lead to 16-10.
 
UBC went up by as many as 9 points in the set as they ended up closing it out comfortably. A couple of TRU service errors late ended things at 25-17.
 
The Wolfpack came out stronger in the second set, taking an 8-5 lead early on to force a UBC timeout. TRU continued to hold a slim lead for much of the set, but the T-Birds kept fighting and an ace from Conaire Taub knotted the score at 19.

 
The play continued back and forth from there, but a big block by Corbin Ockerman capped off a late TRU flurry that finished the set 25-22 in their favour.
 
UBC wrested the momentum back in the third with a 6-0 run powered by a pair of emphatic Gingera kills to make it 15-9. A big kill by Vincett followed by a block by him and Moes put the Thunderbirds up 19-13 and they looked to be in the clear.
 
However, the Wolfpack fought back, and made a massive late push that cut the lead to just a single point at 22-21. Despite the rally, UBC managed to close out the set with Moes scoring the final point to make it 25-23.

 
The fourth set was very similar, as the T-Birds were dominant early on. An ace by Vincett and a big block by Robinson-Dunning put the home side up 15-6 and in firm control of the set. But the Wolfpack again showed their resolve, putting together a 12-4 run to threaten the Thunderbirds once again.
 
This time though, UBC closed out the set a little earlier. A kill by Vincett and then a block from Mason Greves put the T-Birds up 21-18 and they finished off the match by taking the fourth set 25-20.
 
After starting the season 1-3, the ‘Birds have now won three straight, improving to 4-3 on the Canada West season. Coach Hawkins believes that the team has the potential to continuously improve as the season goes along.
 

MVB | THAT’S GAME! @ubcmvb ends the night with a big victory against @GoTRUWolfPack winning the fourth set 25-20!

The T-Birds will be back playing the second game of the back-to-back series against TRU tomorrow at 6:45 pm at War Memorial Gym! #GoBirdsGo pic.twitter.com/xpbFc8Go1n

— UBC Thunderbirds (@ubctbirds) November 18, 2023

“We’re a young team and we’re not going to let that be a crutch,” added Hawkins. “There’s going to be some bumps along the road, but this group is talented and committed to what we’re trying to do and hopefully we can continue doing that.”
 
UBC will face off against TRU once again in a rematch Saturday night. The first serve is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. (PT) at War Memorial Gym.