The UBC Thunderbirds started their Canada West season with a weekend sweep over the University of Fraser Valley (UFV) Cascades. The ‘Birds defeated the Cascades 3–1 on Friday and 3–0 on Saturday.
Friday’s home opener started off slow, with a series of unforced errors from both the ‘Birds and Cascades. Midway through the first set, a succession of kills by UFV outside hitter and former T-Bird Gabrielle Attieh swung the momentum in favour of the Cascades. Despite the push from the Cascades, the score stayed close. After a UBC timeout, fourth-year outside hitter Brynn Pasin slammed down a kill to bring the T-Birds up 23–21. The ‘Birds immediately followed up with kills from Elise Petit and Erika Vermette for a 25–21 first set victory.
The Cascades bounced back in the second set with a 10–3 lead, capitalizing off of T-Birds service and attack errors and finishing on kills. The ‘Birds and Cascades went back and forth until T-Bird Jayde Robertson gathered two aces, bringing the ‘Birds up to 14–16.
Second-year outside hitter Akash Grewal got the ‘Birds’s momentum up with two kills in a row, leaving the War Memorial Gym buzzing with excitement. After a neck-and-neck set, a net violation by the Cascades brought the T-Birds a 28–26 second set win.
The third set started off with a 14–12 UFV lead. UBC saw a strong kill by Robertson and a block by Grewal, but was unable to end the game in three. Cascades’s Mo Likness got a big block on a Petit attack to give UFV the third set 25–22.
Less than two points separated the ‘Birds and the Cascades through a thrilling fourth set. A kill from Lucy Borowski brought the ‘Birds to a 27–25 set win, and their first regular season victory at a packed home opener.
An impeccable performance from fourth-year libero Kacey Jost set the defensive tone for the weekend with a total of 35 digs.
“I think there were some nerves there tonight,” said head coach Doug Riemer after Friday night’s game. “I don't think our team feels like we had our best effort … so it turned into a bit of a grind. We have depth and a lot of young people stepped up, like [Grewal] for example, has been doing a great job as a key player in the preseason.”
When it comes to winning a home opener, Grewal said the “energy was really great.”
“Everybody was super supportive,” said Grewal. “The crowd was really helping [us bring] our energy back up. Even people on the bench were picking us up when we really needed it, and there were a lot of key points when players really stepped up to the plate.”
On Saturday, the ‘Bird defeated the Cascades in straight sets, off of a kill by Petit in the third set. Petit led the UBC offense with 14 kills and 4 aces, and Jost kept the court covered with 15 digs. Attieh led the Cascades with 17 kills and 13 digs.
The Thunderbirds will be travelling to Brandon, Manitoba next weekend to go against the Brandon University Bobcats, who are 0–2 in the regular season.
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