EDMONTON, Alta. – For the second year in a row, the UBC Thunderbirds will play for Canada West gold. Led by Akash Grewal and Lucy Borowski, UBC sailed past the Saskatchewan Huskies 3-0 in their semifinal clash.
Grewal and Borowski combined for 18 of the Thunderbirds 36 kills, as they advance to play the winner of the Alberta Pandas and Manitoba Bisons in tomorrow’s conference final.
“I thought everyone played really well on our team. Everyone came in and did their jobs. We were nice and composed, even when it was hard to be,” said Grewal. “It came down to our team effort, and everyone doing their job. We had a lot of experience playing them last year, although they are a new team. At the end of the day it was focusing on what we could control, and not what was on the other side of the court.”
UBC was efficient in their semifinal win at Saville Community Sports Centre, scoring 36 kills on just 86 attempts, adding six aces and eight blocks.
Taryn Hannah led the eighth-seeded Huskies with 12 kills on 26 attempts, with Abbey Klein adding nine. Saskatchewan, who upset the top-ranked UFV Cascades in the Canada West Quarter-Final last week, couldn’t mister the same magic on Friday in Edmonton, finishing with 20 attack and 11 service errors in the loss.
“We battled with one of the best teams in our conference and a perennial powerhouse. I’m so proud of the team for just sticking with it and battling through in a game that they have a little more experience across their lineup playing in matches like this,” said Huskies head coach Mark Dodds. “I’d like just a little better execution on our serve for one and offensively we got a little out of timing and rhythm and I think some nerves played into that and just the magnitude of the match.”
A back and forth first set was eventually taken by UBC 25-21, which saw 10 ties and four lead changes. UBC was terrific in attack, scoring 14 kills on just 27 attempts, finishing the first with a .444 %. Lucy Borowski led UBC with five kills, to go along with three kills and two aces from Akash Grewal.
Abbey Klein and Taryn Hannah led Saskatchewan with four kills each, but the team was undone by five attack and three service errors, including a service error on set point.
The UBC serve and offence continued to press the Huskies into errors, which saw the underdogs commit seven attack and five service errors in a 25-20 second set loss. Hannah did her part to keep the Huskies in the set with five kills on eight swings.
The Huskies best stretch of the match came early in the third, as they stormed ahead 7-2. That run was short-lived, as UBC quickly marched back to take the lead at 12-11. Pressing their offence, the Huskies finished the third set with nine kills and eight errors in a 25-19 loss, with UBC helping their own cause with five blocks.
The Canada West Final is set for 7:00 p.m. tomorrow night, while Saskatchewan will play for bronze at 5:00 PM.