The WolfPack women’s volleyball team fought through four hard sets against the UBC Thunderbirds in the Canada West Bronze medal game, but unfortunately walk away in fourth place after the weekend.
TRU took the first point and jumped out to a 6–0 lead, forcing the Thunderbirds to take an early timeout. Which is when they found their groove and got their first point of the night. After catching up 4-7, a nerve-racking rally between TRU and the Thunderbirds went on; TRU was blocked on three different attack attempts, but a last-second dump over the net allowed the ’Pack to win the rally. UBC’s blocking only improved throughout the set, causing some impressive rallies but also letting them take the lead. With UBC leading 21–16, the WolfPack regained possession after a Thunderbirds serve into the net. The possession didn’t last long as UBC took the win in the first set 25-17.
The WolfPack once again scored the first point of the set and started with a 10-4 lead. But after a strong kill from UBC, the momentum shifted in UBC’s favour, and they began to play catch-up in the score. Dancheva had a kill that resulted in her serving next, and she sent the ball into the net. Service errors proved to be a big factor in the game. The Thunderbirds slowly crept their way back in the points, bringing the score to a close 8-13. The WolfPack struggled to find consistent scoring in the set, partly due to UBC’s strong blocks being hard to beat. UBC tied it up 16-16 before the two teams went back and forth in points. Three service errors from the Thunderbirds in the last part of the set contributed to the points TRU needed to take a small lead and win the set 25-22.
In the third set, the Thunderbirds took a 3-1 lead quickly, and the third set proved to be a battle of trading points. While the Pack was down 7-10 a service run from Libby Meldrum and big rallies from the team helped them take the first lead of the set 11-10. A big hit and solo Block from Dancheva helped TRU take the one-point lead again at 15-14. Points were traded again until Madison Manchin served the ball into the net, sparking a three-point Thunderbirds run before TRU answered with three points of its own to tie the set again. Dancheva had a big kill that gave her the ball to serve; she sent it right into the net just like in the second set. Giving UBC the ball back and the opportunity to score four points and win the set 25-21.
In the fourth and final set of the game, the score stayed tight throughout the first half until the teams were tied 12-12. That’s when UBC began to pull away with a four-point run. The WolfPack called a timeout, in which they came back to score two points off kills by Hail Ward, leaving the score 16-14. From there, the Thunderbirds began their run to the bronze medal, scoring points in pairs. until they reached the match point 18-24. The ‘Pack pushed back with everything they had, attempting to take it to a fifth set, but UBC won the match 20-25.
UBC only had one more attack at 129 than the WolfPack, and the teams put up similar numbers in the kills. When it comes to serves, the WolfPack made 12 service errors while the Thunderbirds made 16; they made up for their errors with 10 serve aces while the ‘Pack had one. Dancheva led the team stats with 12 kills, 15.5 points and a.400 hitting precentrage, while Myah Cressy was not far behind with 11 kills, 13.5 points and a hitting percentage of .429.
“I think they fought, obviously, we had Rita out, which is an important piece, but I thought the girls stepped up. You know, Lucy came in and did a good job, Lauren was awesome, and then Maya came in and was stellar. I thought our middles held us in the game,” Head Coach Chad Grimm said. “I thought no matter what the score is, we were battling.”
Despite falling just short of a medal, the WolfPack capped off one of the strongest seasons in program history, reaching the Canada West Final Four and competing for bronze in Edmonton. The WolfPack have one last weekend left and will compete next weekend in the USport Nationals at Trinity Western University in Langley.