T-Birds prove too much for Calgary

CALGARY – Behind a balanced team effort, the UBC women’s volleyball team powered to a 3-0 win over the University of Calgary Dinos Saturday, ending Calgary’s Canada West playoff run in the round-of-six from Mount Royal’s Kenyon Court.

Calgary – which will host the U SPORTS National Championship tournament March 25-27 at Jack Simpson Gym – battled hard all night but just couldn’t get their offence on track in the loss, 25-15, 25-20, 25-14.

Kenzie Vaandering led all players with nine kills on the night. The senior outside hit .241 on the night to go with five digs, two blocks and a pair of aces.

Rookie Michala Alongi shone brightly on the defensive side for the Dinos, racking up 17 digs and making a number of highlight plays on the night.

Four different players had seven-plus kills for the Thunderbirds on the night, led by Jayde Robertsen with nine. Kayla Oxland orchestrated the offence nicely, finishing with 32 assists, while Kacey Jost tallied 19 digs.

“I think we came out with some grit,” Calgary libero Michela Alongi said. “We knew UBC was a big blocking team and a big swinging team. We tried our best. It’s not the outcome we were looking for, but we have some things to work on going into Nationals.

“We’re going to be working our butts off in practice preparing for Nationals because we know we’re going to be there. I’m pretty pumped for that. This is my first year and not a lot of people get to go to Nationals, so knowing that we’re going to experience that in our home gym – I’m super pumped.”

The U SPORTS National Championship tournament is scheduled for March 25-27 inside the Jack Simpson Gym. For more information about Nationals, visit the tournament central page here, or for tickets, visit GoDinos.com/buytickets.