The opening game of the U Sports 2018 men’s volleyball national championships kicked off at McMaster University yesterday, as UBC defeated the University of New Brunswick (UNB) Varsity Reds in straight sets: 25-11, 25-14 and 25-19. UNB gained a little in each set, but an aggressive offence from the Thunderbirds was too much to handle.
T-Birds left side Keith West, who was named UBC’s player of the game in the match up, was impressed with his team’s performance out of the gate.
“Everyone was waking up this morning just ready to go,” said West. “We’ve been looking forward to this moment for so long so when it really came down to it, nothing could hold us back.”
After an opening service ace for UNB, four straight points gave UBC the early lead at 4-1. Service errors would allow UNB to edge closer, but varied scoring through aces, spikes and blocks allowed the Thunderbirds to extend their lead to 10-6. Great serves from UBC’s West kept them ahead, doubling up on New Brunswick 16-8 by the technical timeout.
UNB’s attacking errors kept UBC in their groove and assists from Byron Keturakis allowed UBC to overpower the Varsity Reds in set one at 25-11. Everyone was contributing to the Thunderbirds attack by the end of the set, with each player earning at least two points.
Set two started evenly as the teams traded points until 7-7. UBC started to again pull away after that with consistent exploitation of defensive gaps allowing the ’Birds to go up 16-11 at the technical. After that, it was smooth sailing for the boys in blue as they took the second set easily at 25-14.
Outscoring their opponents 50-25 overall by the start of the third set, UBC was well poised to end UNB’s hopes of a national title.
With the Varsity Reds’ season on life support, the team would play their best set of the day in the third. Defensive errors from UBC allowed New Brunswick to go ahead 5-1. But, the Thunderbirds battled back, returning to their aggressive strategy by pushing UNB around to every part of the court with strategic ball placement. UBC would go on a four-point run until UNB called a timeout with a 10-9 lead.
UBC would finally take the lead after resuming play, as their run finished at eight consecutive points. The ’Birds would keep their foot on the gas as they stayed ahead of UNB, up 16-14 by the technical timeout.
Thunderbirds’ captain Irvan Brar took over the set late, helping UBC stay up by two as the game tightened. Three consecutive missed serves — two from UNB and one from UBC — put the score at 21-18 in the T-Birds favour, as desperation set in for New Brunswick.
Match point came for the Thunderbirds off a UNB service error, taking the set and the match 25-19.
When asked post-game about his team’s performance, UBC head coach Kerry MacDonald was pleased with his team’s play even after the shaky start to set three.
“Really happy with [the] outcome, but we were certainly prepared for a much closer battle. We were able to execute our game plan,” he said. “I think the in the third set we came out a little flat … but we responded well and continued to execute through that third set.”
Players of the game were Ryan Colpitts for UNB and Keith West for UBC.
UBC’s next game will be on Saturday, March 17, at 5 p.m. as the team seeks some revenge against the Alberta Golden Bears in a rematch of the Canada West semifinal series that saw UBC lose 0-2 (2-3, 1-3) just two weekends ago.
— With files from Jessica Carmichael/The Silhouette