Thunderbirds sweep Cascades, advance to Final Four

VANCOUVER – It was a fantastic Friday night inside War Memorial Gym for the Thunderbirds, as they took down a feisty UFV 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. 

"Compared to last night we were way better in all areas," said UBC head coach Doug Reimer. "From our serve our block our overall defence, I mean if you look back there was a few incredible rallies in the first handful of points of the match where we were really pushed. We knew the score wasn't indicative of how the rest of the game would go, I give UFV a lot of credit because they served well, it was a serving battle and they hit spots and seams and applied a lot of pressure. Our block and defence and overall offence hung tough there, to win that match in three-straight, I'm very proud of our group."

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.

"I thought our commitment to make adjustments even from last night and execute was really good tonight," added Reimer. "Our players were hitting really smart shots, I thought Kylee Glanville had a very good weekend for us offensively. Our depth helped us this weekend. It's a hard very hard role to play to only come in for a few points and we have good players doing it and I think that will also help us as we look ahead to the next test."

The Thunderbirds will now be forced to leave the comfy confines of War Memorial Gym for the Canada West Final Four, as they will travel to Edmonton to take on some of the best the conference has to offer next weekend.