T-Birds topple Heat on Seniors Night

The UBC Thunderbirds (9-5) swept their home court finale against the UBC Okanagan Heat (6-6) after a decisive 3-0 (25-20, 25-16, 25-12) victory on an evening that honoured graduating seniors Jonathan Lee, Coltyn Liu, Zec Johnson, Tyson Smith, and Zarley Zalusky.

The ‘Birds are on a four-game win streak with one week remaining in the regular season and are six points up on the Heat for second in the west division.

?? MVB | Congratulations ???? to our 5 graduating seniors Jonathan Lee, Coltyn Liu, Zec Johnson, Tyson Smith, & Zarley Zalusky ahead of their final home game vs @UBCOHeat on Seniors Night!

Thank you for your dedication & impact. Once a T-Bird, always a T-Bird! pic.twitter.com/JyjkwnJIsC

— UBC Thunderbirds (@ubctbirds) February 20, 2022

“It was a really similar lineup to what we started with yesterday,” said UBC head coach Mike Hawkins after the Thunderbirds earned their second win of the weekend. “I thought they came in with a ton of poise. Tyson Smith came in and attacked with a ton of confidence, which isn’t a huge surprise if you know him, but I thought all the seniors were level-headed considering it’s a special night. They acknowledged the special atmosphere and played really well in it.”

Cole Brandsma had a team-high 14 kills, Michael Dowhaniuk put up 11 kills with three service aces, while Gerard Murray, Zalusky, and Smith each had four kills in the victory.

Cameron Vanderveen led the Heat with eight kills and an ace, Maxwell Heppell added five kills, and Caleb Funk had two kills and three blocks in the loss.

The T-Birds and Heat battled in a tightly contested first set, until Zalusky put the ‘Birds up 22-19 with a kill and Dowhaniuk served up an ace for a set point at 24-19. Funk extended the opening set with a kill for UBCO, but Smith closed out the set with a kill at 25-20.

?? MVB | @ubcmvb take the 1st set 25-20! #GoBirdsGo pic.twitter.com/XVeMb4fjWd

— UBC Thunderbirds (@ubctbirds) February 20, 2022

The Heat led 4-1 in the second set after a Heppell block, and Smith kept UBC within three on a kill at 7-4. Soon after, the T-Birds went on an 8-0 run to lead 12-8 and entered the technical timeout up 16-10 after a Dowhaniuk ace. UBC earned their first set point on a Murray kill and eventually captured the second set, 25-16, with a Dowhaniuk kill.

UBC stormed out to a 16-5 lead in the third set on a block, and Brandsma made it 19-7 on a kill as the home team cruised to a set point after a Heat service error. Graduating senior Zec Johnson capped off his career in War Memorial Gym with a block to seal the victory – 25-12.

“Playing a bunch of different lineups over these last few weeks gives us the confidence that if there are injuries or COVID issues in the future, we’ve already played essentially every lineup possible,” said Hawkins. “We know that we can play well no matter what’s thrown our way.”

UBC will travel to Kamloops to finish their regular season with a two-game series against the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack (5-9) on February 25^th and 26^th, while UBCO faces the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades on Sunday and Monday before hosting the division-leading Trinity Western Spartans.