VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds (13-9) swept the Winnipeg Wesmen (8-14) with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-18) victory on Saturday night to close out Senior’s Weekend with a bang at War Memorial Gym.
“It really couldn’t have ended any better,” said UBC head coach Mike Hawkins, after the Thunderbirds gave their graduating seniors (Matt Neaves, Michael Dowhaniuk, Colton Liu and Gerard Greves) one final ovation with late substitutions before rookie Reeve Gingera ended the match on an ace. “Obviously we didn’t script the ace at the end, but you always try to have those things in the back of your mind…giving guys their curtain call to celebrate the careers they’ve had, playing so many games in this gym with so many memories. I appreciate that we had the opportunity to give them their moment. It was kind of a similar story to last night with having patience. Last weekend didn’t go very well for us, so it would’ve been easy to come in and be impatient, try to do too much, and make really huge plays. Instead, we let the game come to us and this was the product of that.”
Matt Neaves finished his final regular season home match with 12 kills, two aces, and four blocks for the ‘Birds, Michael Dowhaniuk put up nine kills and four blocks, Gerard Murray added five kills and three blocks, while Coltyn Liu tallied nine kills with four digs in the win.
Nigel Nielsen led the Wesmen with 10 points, Matt Klysh had seven kills with an ace, and Liam Kristjanson tallied six kills with three total blocks in the loss.
UBC earned an early 10-5 lead after a Neaves kill in the first set, while Murray maintained the lead at 18-13 and ripped another kill at 20-13. Dowhaniuk notched a kill at 23-16 and the Thunderbirds won the opening set 25-18 with a kill from James Vincett.
The visitors jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the second set and took an 8-5 lead after a Nielsen back row kill. Liu kept UBC within five with a kill at 14-9 Winnipeg and scored again at 16-13. Mason Greves won a joust at the net to tie it at 17-17 and the T-Birds went on a 7-1 run late in the set. The Wesmen fought off a few set points before closing it out on a Winnipeg error, 25-20.
Vincett came up with one of his six blocks of the match for a 4-0 third-set lead that forced an early Wesmen timeout. Out of the break, Winnipeg went on a 4-0 run – capped off by a Nielsen back row kill to even the score. The momentum swung again in UBC’s favour with another four straight points and they went ahead 18-14 with a Dowhaniuk block. Dowhaniuk dialled up an ace at 21-15 and the Thunderbirds gave their graduating seniors one final home court ovation – setting the stage for Reeve Gingera to punctuate the match with an ace at 25-18.
“We want to keep refining our systems,” said Hawkins, as the T-Birds will now head to Kamloops to finish the Canada West regular season with a series against the TRU WolfPack. “At this point in the season, you’re just trying to make sure everything is running as smoothly as possible…keep the confidence high and the good vibes going.”