Fraser Valley/Vancouver – WVB: Cascades season comes to an end with QF sweep to Thunderbirds
The UBC Thunderbirds booked their ticket to the Canada West semifinals on Friday at War Memorial Gymanasium, as they took down a feisty UFV Cascades side in straight sets (25-11, 25-22, 25-19) to claim victory in their Canada West Quarterfinal series.
Lucy Borowski starred once again for the home team, recording 16 kills, three digs and two aces. Kylee Glanville landed 10 kills on a sparkling .474 hitting percentage along with eight digs and two blocks, while Elizabeth Lee broke her career-high in aces (six) to go with four kills.
UBC as a team hit .386, racking up 41 kills and 12 aces in just three sets of work.
“UBC levelled up their serving game tonight,” applauded UFV head coach Janelle Rozema after the match. “Our serve receive was not able to stabilize enough to keep all our offensive weapons open. They were a formidable opponent tonight. We put up a good fight at moments, but we weren’t able to sustain the level of play to get us through to a series victory.”
Talia Attieh paced the Cascades with 15 kills and three digs on a .448 hitting percentage, but the rest of her team managed just 12 kills combined. Cailin Bitter dished out 20 assists to go with four digs and a pair of kills in her final Canada West match.
The Thunderbirds were on fire in the first set, as after giving up the first point of the night they proceeded to score nine of the next 10 to take control. Consecutive kills from Leonora Barbulovich-Nad continued the momentum, as four different T-Birds scored three or more kills in the opening set.
Eventually taking it by a score of 25-11, the Thunderbirds’ feeling of riding high quickly ground to a halt early in the second as the Cascades came out with renewed energy and confidence. A Talia Attieh kill put her team up 10-6, marking a dramatic turnaround from how the first went.
Unfortunately for the Cascades, they were not able to keep that newfound momentum going long enough to win the set. The Thunderbirds were able to reel them back in as the second went along, and the two teams entered the closing stages tied at 21 points apiece.
From there, UBC had the kick needed to grab the final few points, with Borowski scoring both of their final two points to take a commanding 2-0 lead in set count.
While the Cascades continued to battle hard in the third, the Thunderbirds were able to play from the front for the majority of the frame, leading by as many as nine points at one stage. After Lee broke her career-high in aces with back-to-back serves to make it 24-18, Borowski again provided the final blow two plays later with yet another kill.
The loss sees UFV’s season come to a close, while the Thunderbirds advance to the Canada West Final Four. UBC will travel to Edmonton to take on some more of the best the conference has to offer next weekend.
“Our seniors held their composure and were incredible leaders in a tough do or die match with a tough opponent, but this isn’t a once in awhile thing” Rozema noted about her fifth-year players who played in their final match for UFV. “Our seniors have consistently showed an incredible level of composure and compete in this challenging league. Canada West is not for the faint of heart, and our seniors will leave knowing they showed resilience and courage. They hold the pride knowing they have achieved incredible firsts for the program along the way. They have beaten every team in this league, and been a playoff team every year since we entered the league. They have proven that the cascades are here chasing peak performance. Those seniors now have handed off that torch to the next generation of Cascades with hopes that they will be the ones to experience the competition at a national championship.”
