The UBC Thunderbirds came out on the right side of a tough test winning a marathon five set showdown against the UBC Okanagan Heat 3-2 (17-25, 25-16, 25-22, 14-25, 15-13) to open the second half of the season in Kelowna on Friday night.
With the roller coaster victory the T-Birds improve to 12-1 while the Heat fall to 5-8 on the campaign.
Lucy Borowski had a standout evening for the visitors with a game high 16 kills, an impressive six service aces and 15 digs while teammate Akash Grewal helped the cause with 12 kills, two aces and nine digs.
On the other side of the net it was Olivia Tymkiw setting the tone for the hosts with 11 kills, two service aces and 10 digs and Korey Jenkins chipped in with 10 kills, two aces and five digs.
The Heat started strong on home court and enjoyed a 7-0 run in the middle of the opening set to blow it wide open, highlighted by a pair of blocks from Madison Gardner and Jenkins. A pair of mini runs from UBC cut the deficit but a kill from Abigail Dueck would close out the first set for the hosts.
The visitors responded in the second frame jumping out to a 6-3 lead but UBCO rallied to go in front 12-11 before the ‘Birds bounced back for an 8-2 run powered by four kills from Borowski to take control the rest of the way en route to taking the set 25-16.
The third stanza saw the T-Birds lead by as many as seven points early however the Heat rallied to tie things at 19 all ahead of the UBC regrouping to be efficient in attack late setting up a Grewal kill to close out the set 25-22.
The Heat weren’t going away quietly in the fourth set as they went on a 7-0 run early to set the tone and never look back and an eventual 25-14 win to force a fifth and deciding period.
In the final frame the Heat led early thanks to three kills from Tymkiw for a 9-5 advantage midway through the frame. Borowski pulled UBC back into the match and a crucial block from Issy Robertshaw and Claire Cossarini tied things at 12 and UBC would hang on and take the match thanks to another one of Grewal’s 12 kills on the night.
The teams meet again Saturday afternoon to close out the weekend series at 4:00 p.m. in Kelowna.