Perfect season continues as 'Birds sweep Pandas

EDMONTON - The top-ranked UBC Thunderbirds got one step closer to a perfect regular season as they remained unbeaten with their 19th straight win to begin the season, topping the Alberta Pandas 3-0 (25-14, 25-20, 25-22) in Edmonton on Saturday night.

The win extends UBC's CIS winning streak to 34 games, dating back to the mid-point of the 2008-09 season, and they will go for an even 20 in 2009-10 against SFU (3-16) next Saturday in their regular season finale (3:00 p.m.; War Gym).

"It was good bounce back game for some of our players," said UBC boss Doug Reimer.  "Liz and Claire each played with a lot of purpose tonight and defensively we played a very solid game."

The T-Birds were nearly unstoppable in their attacking game on Saturday, racking up and impressive 46 kills - compared to 28 for Alberta - while hitting .320 as a team.  Kyla Richey led the T-Birds with 12 kills with Shanice Marcelle and Liz Cordonier each chipping in with 10.  Jen Hinze led the blocking effort with one solo and five block assists while Libero Claire Hanna had 13 digs.

Camille Wallace led the Pandas with eight kills on 16 attacks, however, as a team Alberta only hit .133 and were out manned at the net, getting out blocked 9-2.5 by UBC.

It was all UBC early on as they raced out to a 10-4 lead on one of Hinze's seven kills.  Alberta never really got going in the first set, committing seven errors to only seven kills, and trailed by a wide margin for most of the set, eventually losing 25-14.

Despite a more consistent effort from the hosts in the second set, UBC kept their foot firmly on the gas, finally taking control of the set after trailing 16-15 at the second technical timeout.  The T-Birds went on a 4-0 run out of that break, thanks in part to a pair of service aces from Katie Tyzuk, and then closed the second on a 3-0 to take it 25-22.

Alberta continued to find more confidence in the third and took a 16-12 lead.  The T-Birds, however, whittled away at the deficit and eventually tied the game at 20-20 on a block by Marcelle and Hinze.  The visitors then took control of the match, taking the final set with a 5-2 run.