VANCOUVER – Facing off against a young, hungry Calgary Dinos side, the UBC Thunderbirds stood firm and managed to close out the first match of their best-of-three Canada West Quarterfinal series with a 3-0 victory (25-15, 25-20, 29-27) Thursday night inside the War Memorial Gym.

The Dinos improved dramatically in each set, even leading for much of the third before the T-Birds managed to find the clutch plays they needed to avoid going to a fourth set. 

"I thought Calgary started passing the ball a lot better, and I thought Matthew Brown did a good job running their offence," remarked UBC head coach Mike Hawkins. "They hit around .100 in the first set and then .318, .250 after that. That's a good setter making some plays."

Brown finished with 26 assists, many of them going to Will Kay who landed 14 kills on a .500 hitting percentage, good for nearly half of his team's total kills.

On the side of the Thunderbirds, Reeve Gingera led the way with 16 kills and five digs, while Alex Borowski had 11 kills and three digs.
 
Mason and Logan Greves each provided highlights on their birthdays, with Mason recording 34 assists, nine digs and two blocks, and Logan earning four digs and two assists – with two of those digs coming in dramatic fashion on the final play of the match.

The 'Birds dominated the first set of action, taking a big early lead and never being truly challenged before they eventually closed out a 10-point win. Kieran Robinson-Dunning tallied four big kills in the frame, including three in quick succession in the late stages to put a stamp on the emphatic opener.

The second was a different story, as the Dinos kept things close right from the start. Kills from Cole and Ethan Czepuryk helped tie up the score at 14-14, and it remained very tight until a burst of four straight points pushed the UBC lead out to 23-18.

Will Kay tried to will his team back into things with a couple late kills, but Mason Greves landing a kill on his own followed soon after by a Dinos service error ended the set at 25-20.

The third was the best one for Calgary, as they ripped off a 6-1 run in the early stages to go up 11-7, capped by yet another kill from Kay. UBC hung around, but couldn't get over the hump and retake the lead for themselves.

At one point down 23-20, the home team rallied and scored four of the next five points to send the set past the 25-point barrier, with three of those points being Gingera kills. The Calgary native also put a couple key serves across the net to set up crucial points, and eventually provided the assist for Borowski to end the night with a kill. 

The Thunderbirds and Dinos will go again Friday night at 8:30 p.m. MT for the second game in this best-of-three series.

-UC-