VANCOUVER – For the second straight season, the UBC Thunderbirds will have the chance to play for a medal in the Canada West playoffs, as they took down the Brandon Bobcats in straight sets (25-21, 25-23, 25-17) to advance to next weekend's Final Four.
Gavin Moes was electric for the T-Birds with 15 kills on a .500 hitting percentage, along with seven digs.
Mason Greves tallied 34 assists and five digs while
Reeve Gingera recorded nine kills, three digs and four aces.
Thunderbirds head coach
Mike Hawkins was full of praise for how a number of his players performed, especially Gingera who made his return to the starting lineup in this quarterfinal series following a number of weeks out.
"It's really hard when you get hurt in the second semester to come back into this kind of matchup, especially against a really good Brandon team," said Hawkins. "His statline won't be the most impressive of his career, but the way that he battled and really was a difference in that third set at the very end is everything we need."
On the other side, Riley Grusing had eight kills, four digs and two blocks. Liam Pauls put up seven kills, five digs and three blocks. The Bobcats will now regroup before they host the U SPORTS National Championships at home in just three weeks' time.
"They're better than us, right now they're just better than us in all facets of the game," said Brandon head coach Grant Wilson. "But I'm proud of our guys, we battled better tonight I thought after a bit of a slow start in the first set but after that I thought we did some really positive things. We need to build of it and learn from this and try to be better when we'll probably see them in a few weeks in March."
Kieran Robinson-Dunning got the night started with a kill and two blocks within the first four points, kickstarting a big UBC run that put them up 11-3 following a kill from Gingera.
However, the Bobcats fought back, notching three blocks in a row followed by a pair of aces from J.J. Love. While they were able to cut the lead to just a single point, the T-Birds counterpunched and stretched the lead back out to five following kills from
Dawson Pratt and Moes.
The Bobcats made a final push in the dying stages of the set, but
Alex Emery finished things off with back-to-back blocks to give the home team the advantage.
Set number two was very close throughout, with neither team taking a multi-point lead until a Pratt ace made it 14-12. With the score tied at 18 later on the Thunderbirds scored three straight to put themselves in front, before Brandon ripped off four points in a row in response, capped by a kill from Pauls to take the lead.
From there though, the 'Birds came up with the clutch plays, as Moes landed kills on the final two points of the set to make it 25-23 and put his squad on the precipice of victory.
The third set was again close to begin, but with the score at 13-13 the Thunderbirds suddenly surged out in front with an 8-1 run to take firm control. That was the momentum they needed, and Gingera eventually ended the series with a kill.
The focus now shifts to Winnipeg, where the top-seeded Wesmen will host the Final Four next Friday and Saturday. The T-Birds will face familiar foes Alberta in the semifinal round, as the Wesmen await the winner of the Saskatchewan-Trinity Western series.
"We're going into a gym that we played in the first weekend of the season, so at least we're familiar with that territory, and playing a Golden Bears team that we've played a hundred times in the last couple years," said Hawkins. "We're going to focus on ourselves the next couple days, but looking forward to the challenge."
That rematch of last season's Canada West (and U SPORTS) semifinal happens on Friday, March 7th.
