Box Score VANCOUVER -- The UBC Thunderbirds opened their 2015-16 Canada West women's volleyball campaign with a 3-0 home victory over the visiting Manitoba Bisons Saturday night at War Memorial Gymnasium in Vancouver.
Â
The set scores were: 25-14, 25-19 and 25-14 in favour of the hosts.
Â
Alissa Coulter led UBC with nine kills while Manitoba got five each from Jordana Milne, Angelica Kilberg and Sarah Klassen.
Â
The Thunderbirds had an efficient attack, recording a hitting percentage of .425 for the match.
Â
The 'Birds and the Bisons traded points early in the opening set, and a kill from Manitoba's Milne cut UBC's lead to 9-7. But the T-Birds then won eight of the next 10 points to open up a wide gap, which they continued to build on until the set's conclusion at 25-14.
Â
Kilberg was one of the highlights for Manitoba in the opening set, as she recorded four kills on four attacks and added an assist.
Â
With help from two Danielle Brisebois service aces, UBC jumped out to an early 4-1 advantage but Manitoba stemmed the momentum of the hosts to close to 10-9 on a Klassen kill. Another Brisebois ace – she finished the game with four – brought the teams into the technical timeout at 16-11 in favour of the Thunderbirds. The two sides essentially traded points the rest of the way. Bison Lexi Janovcik had a couple of aces at the end of the set, but her run was ended on a Manitoba attack error that gave UBC a 25-19 win.
Â
The third set was tied just once, at 1-1, before UBC was able to create separation. Alessandra Gentile had a couple of aces early for the home team. The Thunderbirds forced the Bisons to call a timeout at 11-5. Coulter knocked down a kill to make it 13-8 and followed up with a service ace. Siobhan Finan for UBC then added three kills in five points to push the score to 17-10. The visitors couldn't generate much momentum despite a couple of late kills from Milne.
Â
With the loss, Manitoba fell to 0-3. Tori Studler had seven digs for the Bisons while Sydney Booker recorded 14 assists on the day.
Â
Gentile had 28 assists for the victors, while Coulter and Samantha Patko had eight digs each.
Â
The rematch takes place on Saturday at 5 p.m. PT.