UBC stays golden with second straight U SPORTS championship

HAMILTON, Ont. – For the second straight season and the 14^th time in program history, the UBC Thunderbirds are U SPORTS Women’s Volleyball Champions.
The blue and gold prevailed against one of their longest standing Canada West rivals, the Alberta Pandas with a four set victory (25-16, 23-25, 25-19, 25-23) at McMaster University Sunday night.

“That sounds pretty good. Gold medal winning and back-to-back,” said UBC head coach Doug Reimer who won his 11^th national title with the T-Birds and 12^th of his legendary career. “Both of those things are very, very hard to do. We’ve had a lot of success but I’m just so appreciative for it to end this way.”

After trading wins in the first and second set, the T-Birds took a sizeable early lead in the third and fended off a strong Alberta counterpunch to take it, 25-19, and put the Pandas on the ropes.

A back-and-forth start to the fourth saw the ‘Birds and Pandas go toe-to-toe until UBC went ahead 10-8 with back-to-back Claire Cossarini kills. Neither side could manage to take a substantial lead with a pair of Allie Moore blocks pulling the Pandas even once again at 14-14 in a match that almost seemed destined to go the distance.

The Pandas managed to take a 23-22 lead on one of Lauryn Tremblay’s match-leading 15 kills. But Akash Grewal struck back with one of her 14 on the night followed by an Alberta error that set up match point. Fittingly, it was Grewal who ended it with her fifth service ace, helping land her a spot on the tournament All-Star team.

“There’s times there where we were fighting the ball a bit, but for us to just battle through some of those things, and some of that is credit to Alberta,” Reimer continued. “I thought overall though we played some crisp volleyball. We were close in that second set and you don’t like to let those slip away against such a quality opponent. That fourth was something going back-and-forth but that’s something a national championship often brings.”

After UBC took the first set by a 25-16 margin, the Pandas were much sharper in the second, hitting .237 to UBC’s .150. Tied at 23 apiece, Alberta closed out their lone set win with a pair of kills from Laila Johnston and Abby Guezen.

While the T-Birds felt they may have let the second set slip away, the Pandas gave UBC a good run late in the frame after falling behind 12-3 early. Alberta got within two points at 20-18, but the ‘Birds settled down and closed out the set with four straight points, setting up the final – and most entertaining – set of the night.

Lucy Borowski led the match with 17 digs along with 13 kills and earned tournament MVP honours following an outstanding week.

?? WVB | Moments after winning her third @USPORTSca title with the T-Birds, libero Kacey Jost reflects on how special this championship is pic.twitter.com/x7hkn6VRFM

— UBC Thunderbirds (@ubctbirds) March 18, 2024

Playing in her final U SPORTS match, Kacey Jost was also named to the Tournament All-Star squad along with Grewal and Borowski.

“I’m really, really proud of the team and the coaching staff and everyone involved because I know that we just grinded so hard to be here,” said Jost mere moments after winning her third title as a T-Bird. “Unreal, absolutely unreal.”