VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds' front line set the tone early and never let up, as the University of Calgary Dinos men's volleyball team dropped a 3-0 (16-25, 15-25, 23-25) decision in its Canada West season opener Friday night at War Memorial Gym.
UBC's block was the difference. The Thunderbirds finished with 12 team blocks to Calgary's two, with Alex Emery getting a hand on nine of them. Those stops repeatedly ended Dinos rallies and fuelled the home side's biggest runs of the night.
Sam Kay led Calgary with eight kills, while Marshall Qually was the most efficient Dinos attacker, putting away six kills on 10 swings for a .400 hitting percentage. Will Kay added five kills, Matthew Brown ran the offence with 20 assists, and Brown and Cole Czepuryk each finished with six digs.
For UBC, Dawson Pratt was nearly flawless, recording nine kills without an attack error to go with two aces and five block assists for a match-high 13.5 points. Gavin Moes added 10 kills, Wil Basilio had seven kills and two aces, and setter Daniel Lewis distributed 34 assists.
The opening set was a back-and-forth affair, tied 10 times through the first 22 points. Calgary held its last lead at 10-9 before UBC broke away from an 11-11 deadlock, using a pair of blocks to build a 17-12 cushion and closing the set 25-16.
The Thunderbirds controlled the second set from the start. Pratt delivered back-to-back aces to push the lead to 9-5, and UBC later ripped off six straight points, three on blocks, to open an 18-10 gap and go on to a 25-15 win.
Calgary produced its best stretch of the night in the third. After falling behind 3-0, the Dinos battled back to tie the set at 7-7 and 8-8. A block by Basilio and Danny Cravioto-Ross capped a three-point UBC run for a 16-12 lead, but Calgary kept chipping away. Trailing 23-19, the Dinos rattled off three straight points, with Sam Kay's transition kill pulling them within one and forcing UBC to call a timeout. Sam Kay then saved a match point with another kill to make it 24-23, but a service error on the next rally ended the match. Calgary had 12 kills in the third set, more than in the first two combined.
The loss leaves Calgary 0-1 in Canada West play, while UBC opens its season at 1-0.
The Dinos will return to action Saturday, Oct. 24 when they travel to face the Thunderbirds again at War Memorial Gym at 4 p.m. PT. The game can be seen live on Canada West TV powered by BioSteel.
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