T-Birds sweep weekend series vs WolfPack and improve to 8-0

The U SPORTS No.1-ranked UBC Thunderbirds remain undefeated, downing the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack for the second night in straight sets, 3-0 (25-21, 25-17, 25-14) at War Memorial Gym Saturday night to improve to 8-0 on the Canada West season.

Fourth-year outside hitter Trinity Solecki led the ‘Birds in kills with eight, and a hitting percentage of 0.538, while both Claire Cossarini and Kartarina Pantovic added seven kills each and Kylee Glanville recorded two service aces.

“I think our serving had the right balance between putting them in some trouble and finding the right zones, said UBC head coach Doug Reimer. “That’s part of the reason I think for some of the bigger leads we were able to keep some runs going today. The key thing now is going to be, can we do that with a more experienced block and a more physical team.”
 

?? WVB | @ubcwvb downs @GoTRUWolfPack in straight sets 3-0 for the second time in a row this weekend! The T-Birds improve to 8-0 on the @CanadaWest Season! #GoBirdsGo

??: https://t.co/TdjaH9qtA1 pic.twitter.com/AhpXDxSULs

— UBC Thunderbirds (@ubctbirds) November 19, 2023

Brooklyn Olfert dominated at the net for TRU, with a team-high eight kills while teammate Madison Maichin contributed two service aces.

The WolfPack started the first set strong, earning five straight points from all parts of the court forcing a UBC timeout. A dominant kill from UBC’s Cossarini after the timeout sparked an exchange of points with standout TRU outside hitter Ema Palkovicova also racking up a service ace and powerful kill. Cossarini answered once again for UBC by smashing a kill, swinging the momentum and shrinking a T-Bird point deficit. An Akash Grewal kill helped UBC reach their first lead of the game making it 22-21, and a final setpoint service ace from Elisabeth Lee earned UBC a 25-21 set win.

The second set looked to be an even battle with the WolfPack’s Keira Gent with an emphatic early kill, tying the game at 3-3, but the hope for a balanced game was short lived as Lucy Borowski responded with a kill of her own, swinging the momentum toward the T-Birds who increased the point gap to 21-10. In the latter half of the frame, a flurry of UBC errors and a pair of service aces by the WolfPack’s Maichin led to a timeout from the hosts. The pause proved beneficial for, the ‘Birds who managed a 25-17 set win following a WolfPack attack error. 

UBC jumped out to an early lead in the third set with four straight points and didn’t look back as they pulled further away, aided by a continued Cossarini and Pantovic kill hot streak. A few glimmers of hope came from WolfPack outside hitter, Olfert, who racked up eight kills by the end of the third frame, but it was not enough, as a final kill by Danielle Price ended the set 25-14 to down TRU in straight sets.

“TRU had more initiative than they did last night,” added Reimer. “I thought they really came out and played great in the start of that first set. We made way too many errors early on. I will say I thought we really kept our composure despite being down.”

The undefeated T-Birds are on the road next weekend for back-to-back meetings vs the 5-2 UFV Cascades beginning Friday evening at 7:45 p.m in Abbotsford.