Box Score
VANCOUVER - The Calgary Dinos made it tough for the defending national champions in the end, but a flurry of kills by Rosie Schlagintweit pushed UBC over the top in a tight third set, giving them 13 straight set wins and a 7-0 start to the year after a 3-0 win (25-15, 25-13, 28-26) over the Dinos on Friday at War Memorial Gym.
After breezing through the first two sets, the T-Birds found themselves in a dog fight in the third set. They took an early lead, but the Dinos came charging back to tie it at eight, and slowly pushed ahead into the lead thanks to a huge effort from
Courtney Dawson. She earned seven of her team-high 11 kills in the third set, and had the Dinos up 23-21 with a chance to force a fourth.
The T-Birds pulled even at 25 after a pair of Kyla Richey kills before the Dinos went up again 26-25 on an
Andrea Price kill. The next three points were long rallies that included multiple diving digs and impressive ups from the T-Birds, and they all ended at the hands of Schlagintweit, who rattled off three straight kills to end the match.
In addition to her strong defence, Richey led all players with 16 kills, including nine in the third set to keep the 'Birds in it when they were trailing. She hit .379 on the night, and led all players with nine digs.
Schlaginweit added a match-high six service aces to her strong attacking performance. UBC had 11 aces to nine service errors, while the Dinos had just one ace and seven service errors.
UBC got off to a big lead out of the gate in each of the first two sets, starting out 6-0 in the first and 5-0 in the second, and took them both relatively unchallenged. The Dinos adjusted well in the third to hold UBC to .250 hitting after they hit .464 in the previous set.
Brina Derksen-Bergen had 35 assists for UBC.
Jordhynn Guy and
Sarah Lacny split duties at setter for the Dinos and combined for 24 assists.
UBC moves to 7-0 on the year, while the Dinos fall to 4-5. The teams are back at it tomorrow to wrap up the weekend series at War Memorial Gym. Game time is 5 p.m.
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