BOX SCORE CALGARY – It was a valiant fight by the University of Calgary Dinos against the five-time defending CIS champions, but the Bird turned out to be the word as UBC held off the home squad by a score of 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 26-24).
Calgary went toe-to-toe with the T-Birds, but ultimately couldn't seem to build enough momentum when they needed it. Calgary also struggled to contain the dynamic duo of Lisa Barclay and Shanice Marcelle, who combined for 24 kills on respective 30% attack rates.
UBC overcame 19 attack errors to vault past the Dinos, who posted only 10. While National-Teamers Barclay and Marcelle led the way in kills for the Birds, Begum Pulas and Briana Liau-Kent notched six digs apiece as well.
The first set featured a handful of scoring runs, with the largest streak ultimately sealing the victory for UBC. Down 13-9 in the first set after six consecutive points by the T-Birds, the Dinos went on a 7-1 run of their own in large part to four UBC errors to go up 16-14 at the technical timeout. However, the T-Birds regained control of the set as three kills from Barclay propelled them to a 11-4 advantage down the stretch and a 25-20 set victory.
UBC led from start to finish in the middle set, but could not fully separate themselves from the pesky Dinos. A 16-11 UBC advantage at the break was whittled down by the Dinos, thanks to two emphatic kills from Doland. A late T-Bird error brought the Dinos within one at 22-21, but a subsequent service error from
Courtney Dawson and a net violation from
Sarah Moncks eventually set the table for another Marcelle set-clinching kill.
Fifth year hitter
Lindsey Doland did her best to throw her team on her back in the late stages of the third set, nearly single-handedly overcoming a 22-18 deficit.
A
Sarah Moncks block sparked a 4-1 Doland run against the T-Birds, with the Calgary native earning a block, two kills and a nifty tip to make it 23-23. A
Courtney Dawson service ace gave the home-side much optimism up 24-23, but Marcelle shut the door, earning three straight kills to finish out the match.
Doland led the Dinos with 10 kills and four digs, while
Andrea Price and
Sarah Moncks each contributed seven kills to round out the Calgary effort.
The No. 2 T-Birds improve to 6-1 on the season with the victory over the Dinos, who fall to 3-4. The rematch takes place on Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Jack Simpson Gymnasium.
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