VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds started out hot and rode that momentum to the finish line, opening up their Canada West playoff campaign with a straight sets victory (25-13, 25-22, 25-18) over the Brandon Bobcats.
Thunderbirds head coach
Mike Hawkins was very pleased with how his team came out in the first set, as they built a commanding lead which led to the opening frame win and helped set the tone for the night.
"The first set was just an example of our training for the last week and a half," he said. "Kudos to the Bobcats, I thought they did a really good job of answering back…but we settled the ship when we needed to."
Reeve Gingera dazzled in his first start since mid-January, putting up 11 kills and seven digs on a .333 hitting percentage.
Gavin Moes tallied 11 kills and six aces, while
Dawson Pratt had seven kills, five digs and a team-high three blocks.
"They played quite well and put us under pressure early, and we just didn't respond the way we had hoped," remarked Bobcats head coach Grant Wilson. "It's got to be water under the bridge and we'll look at some things we can improve and hopefully be better in those areas tomorrow."
Tom Friesen led the visitors in kills with seven along with six digs, while Riley Brunet recorded a highly-efficient five kills and five blocks.
Brunet notched three of those kills within the first dozen points of the first set, but despite his fast start the T-Birds took the early lead. A 7-1 run capped by a Pratt kill made it 12-5 for the home team, and things only continued to spiral from there.
A pancake dig from Gingera set up Moes for a kill, followed by an ace from
Mason Greves that put the score at 18-6. The Bobcats did have a late flurry as they got their legs under them in the late stages of the set, featuring consecutive aces from J.J. Love, but Gingera ended things at 25-13 with an ace of his own.
Brandon came out much stronger in the second, with an ace from Friesen taking a 10-6 lead and forcing a UBC timeout. The 'Birds responded from there, as Gingera tied the score at 14 apiece with another ace. The score remained tight until the final stages of the set, when the T-Birds reeled off a 5-0 run to make it 23-18 led by a powerful run of serves from Moes.
The visitors did score three in a row to stay alive a little longer, but
Alex Emery struck the final blow with a kill over the middle to increase UBC's set lead.
The two teams went back-and-forth to begin the third, before a series of Thunderbird errors followed by a kill from Friesen again made it a 10-6 start for the Manitoba outfit. Once again though, UBC fought back in the middle portion of the set, and Pratt knotted the score at 12-12 with a cross-court kill.
Greves took matters into his own hands on a broken play with the score tied at 16, as the setter uncorked a powerful attack over the net for the kill. Pratt followed with one of his own that made it a two-point lead, and the 'Birds were able to close out the match from there.
While it's a massive boost to take the opening match of the series, the T-Birds know that things are far from over. UBC needs to get one more win over the Bobcats to punch their ticket to the Final Four next weekend.
"We expect them to play even better tomorrow night – the road team always plays better the second night, especially when they're the team that's on the ropes," added Hawkins. "We know that there's some adjustments we can make, some things we can clean up, but we're expecting a street fight tomorrow."
The second match of the best-of-three series is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. (PT) on Friday night at War Memorial Gym.
