EDMONTON - On the heels of the first Canada West Women's volleyball Final Four upset, the No. 3-ranked University of Calgary Dinos became the second higher seeded to team to fall in Edmonton, as the No. 5-ranked University of British Columbia Thunderbirds celebrated victory over the Dinos in straight sets (25-22, 25-20, 25-15).
BOX SCORE
With the win, UBC will face off against the evening's other victors in Canada West Final Four play, the Trinity Western Spartans, in the Canada West Gold Medal Game that takes place on Saturday. Although the intensity between the two B.C. rivals will be high, there is perhaps more potential for the Bronze Medal Game. Not only does a Battle of Alberta taking place in Edmonton mean that the crowd will be fervent in their support for the home team, but both Alberta and Calgary suffered upsets. More importantly, the winner of the bronze medallions claims the final Canada West entry into the CIS national championship in New Brunswick.
The Thunderbirds will be flying there after a great performance on the court tonight, taking full advantage of a Calgary team that, when combining all three sets, committed 22 attack errors and 11 service errors.
Unfortunately, a couple of them came early on in the first set to help set up a 5-0 run for UBC to double up the Dinos 12-6 on the board. An intelligent Calgary squad used a couple of tips over the net to help balance the score at 16-16. The errors regrettably continued for the Dinos, though, and fifth-year T-bird Marisa Field added a couple of kills late to take the set.
Field led the team with 10 kills on the night, with teammates Danielle Petersen and Kyla Richey close behind with nine apiece. Calgary native Claire Hanna, though not registering a single attack, led UBC with 11 digs. Canada West player of the year Holly Harper led the Dinos with six digs but had an otherwise off night by recording a 4.8% attack percentage.
She may have started the game with six kills and two errors in the first set, but her second set brought about a single kill and four errors. The rest of her team fared no better while the points on the scoreboard went back and forth before UBC forged ahead at the end.
Still, the 16-4 Dinos did not give up yet, tying the final set to 10-10 and momentarily taking a single-point lead before a combination of UBC blocking and more Calgary errors put UBC on a 12-1 run to salt the game away.
Fourth-year middle Laura Spence led the Dinos with a dozen kills in the loss.
The Bronze Medal Game takes place Saturday at 1 p.m. MT in the University of Alberta's Main Gym. The Gold Medal Game takes place at 2:30 p.m. MT.
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