VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds (11-2) started the new year with an emphatic 3-0 (25-15, 25-15, 25-17) victory over the University of Saskatchewan Huskies (6-7) on Friday night at War Memorial Gym after a lengthy winter break.
Veteran middle Jayde Robertsen made her return to the court for the T-Birds with an efficient eight kills and three blocks, while Cara Kovacs finished with an impressive 11 kills, six aces and four blocks in the win.
“We’re really happy for Jayde,” said UBC head coach Doug Reimer. “She had a tough go being in and out of the lineup in first term, and she played really well tonight. It makes us a tougher team with nice offensive balance across the board. Every match counts at this point, and you want to put yourself in a good position for playoffs. Often you start the second term with over a month since you played an actual league game. I felt like we had a good chance to scrimmage this week and were ready to go, but you never know until you get out there in real live match conditions. I’m very pleased with the composure we showed. In the first set the score was pretty tight and maybe we weren’t playing our best volleyball, but we played nice and steady. The challenge is to keep going with that focussed mindset and tweak the things we need to in order to get better.”
Kovacs had a standout night from the service line along with a .611 hitting percentage to start 2023 on a high. “I’ve been working a lot on my serve over the summer trying to get a good mindset for that and I think that really helped me shine in this game,” said the fourth-year hitter. “I think especially tonight, and lots of other nights, we have gritty defenders, we have a bunch of girls out there diving for every ball. We’ve become a lot more scrappy over my years here and it’s become part of our team identity.”
Elise Petit put up nine kills with a team-high 11 digs, as Brynn Pasin and Erika Vermette each tallied seven kills and two blocks for the ‘Birds. Jolene Sibley led the Huskies with seven kills and seven digs, while Mandi Fraser added six kills and an ace in the loss.
A Kayla Oxland kill gave the ‘Birds a 12-9 advantage in the first, and Kacey Jost came up with a big dig to help the ‘Birds pull ahead midway through the set. UBC led by 10 after a Pasin block and, although Olivia Mattern extended the set for the Huskies, Robertsen dropped a tip for a 25-15 first set victory.
Petit unloaded on back-to-back kills from the left side for an eight-point cushion in the second before Lucy Borowski made it a 10-point lead at 20-10 T-Birds. Mattern earned an ace for Saskatchewan late in the frame, but Kovacs closed it out at 25-15.
WVB | Cara Kovacs led the T-Birds with 11 kills and 6 aces in a straight sets victory over the Huskies to kick start 2023 pic.twitter.com/EoWdxf6i3L
Mandi Fraser served up an ace for the Huskies at 5-5 in the third and earned a kill to keep the visitors within single digits at 22-16 UBC, but the ‘Birds clamped down and captured the third with an Akash Grewal kill at 25-17.
The two teams will rematch on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. (PT) at War Memorial Gym.