The U Sports women’s volleyball national championship drew to a close this weekend with the UBC Thunderbirds taking down the Alberta Pandas in four sets to win gold and the Manitoba Bisons sweeping the Acadia Axewomen for bronze. The Thunderbirds’ victory gave them their second-straight national championship, their 14th in program history.
Following sweeping Acadia in the semi-finals on March 16th, the second-seeded Thunderbirds lined up against the fourth-ranked Pandas with a chance to defend their 2023 national title.
After surrendering the first point of the night on an error, UBC took the game to Alberta right off the bat, going on an 8-2 run to take an early hold on the match. UBC never let go of their grasp on the first set and kept the run of playing heading in their direction. The Thunderbirds led by as much as 10 points and took the first set easily by a score of 25-16.
Waking up a little, Alberta showed a lot more life in the second set. The Pandas and Thunderbirds traded points in the first half of the set with both sides forcing frequent one-point side-outs, leaving Alberta with a slim lead. Ahead 14-11, the Pandas surrendered a three-point run to the Thunderbirds that tied the game, but Alberta responded with two three-point runs of their own, taking a 20-15 lead. However, UBC was able to come back again, tying the score first at 21 and then again at 23. Nevertheless, Alberta was able to hold on and put down two kills, winning the set 25-23 and tying the match at 1-1.
Much like set one, UBC roared out of the gate in the third. After Alberta tied the set at two, the Thunderbirds lunged out to a 10-1 run, putting them ahead 12-3. Unlike in set one though, the Pandas were unwilling to be counted out. Alberta tightened up their play and, for most of the rest of the set, doubled the Thunderbirds’ scoring output, bringing the score as close as 17-19. Despite Alberta’s threatening run, UBC locked in and scored the final four points of the set, winning 25-19.
Set four was the tightest of the evening. Alberta had the first run of the game to go up 6-4, a lead that was quickly nullified by a Thunderbirds run that put them ahead 10-8. After a timeout by the Pandas, UBC was able to stretch their lead to 13-9, but that’s as far as they got. Alberta rebounded to even the score at 14 and from there neither side was able to get ahead by more than two points. Finally, with the Pandas ahead 23-22, UBC managed to find a way to score the final three points of the match, delivering them the U Sports championship.
Alberta’s Player of the Game was Lauryn Tremblay, who led the game with 15 kills on 49 attempts. UBC’s Akash Grewal led the game with 19 points, including 14 kills and an astounding five aces. Emma Doyon was named UBC’s Player of the Game, contributing seven kills on 12 attempts.
Thunderbird Lucy Borowski, who also had a strong game with 13 kills on 33 attempts, was named tournament MVP. Borowski was also named to the tournament all-star team, along with Tremblay and her UBC teammates Erika Vermette and Grewal. The rest of the all-star team was rounded out by Alberta’s Laila Johnston, Manitoba’s Katreena Bentley and Acadia’s Alexia Lemay-Evans.
