Over the weekend in Edmonton, the fourth-seeded UBC women’s volleyball team wrapped up the Canada West (CW) Final Four as runners-up, first defeating the University of Saskatchewan Huskies before falling to the University of Alberta Pandas.
In the semifinals on Friday, the Thunderbirds advanced with a straight set victory (25–21, 25–20, 25–19) over the eighth-seeded Huskies.
UBC started with a centre dump from Issy Robertshaw to take the first point. Lucy Borowski helped UBC take a 2–1 lead but Saskatchewan responded with a three-point run from Abbey Klein. The first set continued in a tight fashion, with no more than two points separating the sides until UBC grabbed a three-point lead, 23–20, from a Borowski kill. A Husky service error gave UBC the first set win, 25–21.
UBC got out to a 14–7 lead in the second set, after several Saskatchewan errors and big attacking plays from Akash Grewal and Borowski. The Huskies called a timeout and rallied to pull within four points. However, UBC never let the set get any closer than that and closed it out at 25–20.
Saskatchewan started the must-win set strong, going up by five points, resulting in a UBC timeout. The Thunderbirds came back with three consecutive points and drew level, nine-all, after a Trinity Solecki ace. Both teams traded points for a while until, when tied at 16, UBC seized momentum to gain separation. From then on, the Thunderbirds never allowed Saskatchewan the lead, claiming the victory through a Grewal attack and advancing to the team's second consecutive CW final.
But the T-Birds went on to take the silver, dropping the final match in five sets to the second-seeded Pandas on Saturday night.
UBC started off poorly, making several errors to hand the Pandas an early lead — the first five Alberta points were off errors made by the Thunderbirds. The set was close, the deficit never growing greater than 2 points past 10-all. The Pandas earned a chance to clinch the set when Ronnie Dickson scored, finding a gap beside the UBC wall and Alberta took advantage, with Panda Laila Johnston making a huge block on Borowski to win the set.
The second set began in a similarly tight fashion, both teams battling it out until the momentum swung in UBC’s favour. The Thunderbirds attained a four-point advantage capped off by an Emelie Silovs ace. Borowski kept the lead intact from the back row and an Emma Doyon putaway secured the second set for UBC.
There was little distance on the scoreboard once again during the third set. Dickson found gaps in the UBC defence to score early on, but the Thunderbirds pulled to within one point late in the set thanks to Grewal’s big swing. However, Alberta won the next two points for the set victory, 25-22.
The fourth set started rocky, as service errors accounted for four of the first five points. Silovs scored twice for UBC on similar plays, slamming it down on the Alberta side to push ahead. The T-Birds’ resilience and continued strong play took the set 25–13, forcing a decisive fifth set for the conference title.
The final set played out much tighter than the previous set. UBC took the early lead on some big blocks defensively, along with a massive cross-court Borowski swing. However, Alberta took over and held on to win the match by a slim 15–13 margin as Mackenzie Pool scored off the UBC block for the victory.
The Thunderbirds will now travel to Winnipeg for the 2025 U Sports national championship. They will play as the second-seed against Saskatchewan on March 14.
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