Canada West Final: UBC 22-0 after winning second straight CW title

by Mitchell Clinton, U of Manitoba Sports Info Assistant

Photo courtesy Bill Zuk / U of Manitoba Athletics: The two-time defending CIS champion UBC Thunderbirds completed a perfect Canada West season on Saturday, claiming a second consecutive conference title

WINNIPEG - The hometown crowd helped the Manitoba Bisons women's volleyball team push the Canada West conference final to five sets, but in the end, the UBC's perfect record remained intact. UBC beat the Bisons 3-2 (25-17, 25-17, 23-25, 20-25, 15-8) on Saturday at the Investors Group Athletic Centre to successfully defend their Canada West conference title.

The Bisons mounted the comeback after losing the first two sets, but just couldn't complete the run in front of a loud crowd. Although UBC will won the conference with the win, both teams will be heading to the CIS national tournament at the University of Alberta over the March 5-7 weekend.

UBC's Liz Cordonier, named league MVP earlier this week, led the game in kills with 16, while team mate Shanice Marcelle chipped in with 14, and All-Star Jen Hinze added 11. For the Bisons, Kate Wasyliw led the way with 12 kills, but the big story was the Bisons had four players with double digits in digs. Libero Nicole Hall led with 20, while conference All-Star Ashley Voth had 12, and Kristi Hunter and Wasyliw both had 10 each.

Bisons head coach Ken Bentley said the team is already looking ahead to the CIS championship.

"We just have to find a way to play a little bit better volleyball," he said. "We have to find a way to beat them one more time. There will be other teams there that will be a tough challenge as well, so we'll have to find ways to beat them too. They're a good team."

In the fifth, UBC grabbed the lead early, forcing the Bisons to call a timeout trailing by three, 7-4. But the lead pushed to four, which was an amount the Bisons just weren't able to overcome, as UBC went on to win the fifth set 15-8, and win the conference title.

For the fourth straight set, UBC worked their way into a lead by the first technical timeout, and besides the Bisons tying the game at 12, UBC remained in the lead right up until the second technical, where they led 16-13. But this is when the tide changed in the set, as the Bisons went on an 8-1 run to get into the lead, one they wouldn't give up, and when Tricia Mayba's tip fell onto the UBC floor, the Bisons won the set 25-20, and the final was heading to a fifth set.

The third set looked to be going the same way as the first two, with UBC jumping out to an 8-2 lead. But the Bisons started to chip away at the lead, and with the help of the hometown crowd, the Bisons were able to battle back and tie the set at 17. Then a point late in the set went UBC's way to tie it at 23 when the Bisons thought the ball had hit the floor. However the Bisons were able to overcome this obstacle as well, rattling off the remaining two points in the set to win 25-23, and get themselves back in the game.

In the second set, UBC once got out into the lead early, and just like in the first set, they held on the entire way. The lead got to seven points at the second technical timeout (16-9), before growing by one more by the end of the set, which UBC won 25-17. For the second straight set the Bisons team attack percentage was below five per cent.

Both teams traded points early in the set, with UBC picking up the 15th point of the set to give them the 8-7 lead at the first technical. UBC continued to hold their lead between two and four points for most of the set, until UBC called a timeout with the score 17-15. After this point, the regular season's undefeated Thunderbirds went on a 6-2 run to close the set with a 25-17 score.

Both teams now head to Alberta to participate in the CIS national championship. The third team from Canada West heading to the tournament is the Regina Cougars, who beat Trinity Western in the bronze medal game earlier on Saturday.