WINDSOR – Facing off for the second time in the last eight days, and the fourth time overall this season, it’s safe to say that UBC and Manitoba knew each other well. In the Canada West semi-finals, it was the Herd who got the upper hand, holding the No. 1 team in the country to a .074 hitting percentage in a 3-0 win. But in the national semi, UBC responded, halting the Bisons hopes of a gold medal with a 3-1 victory (15-25, 25-10, 25-22, 25-16).

The U SPORTS Player of the Year Mason Greves led the charge for the T-Birds. The facilitator for the nation’s most efficient offence, he dished out 42 assists along with nine digs and a kill. The team’s three leading attackers, Reeve Gingera, Gavin Moes and Dawson Pratt combined for 37 kills in a balanced attack, while five different players had at least four kills overall, and UBC hit .283 overall, compared to .170 for Manitoba. 

The Herd were led by 14 kills from Owen Weekes, however the sophomore sensation hit. 113 on the game, as UBC’s service pressure played a factor. Setter Sammy Ludwig added 34 assists and six digs, while Manitoba’s Player of the Game Karil Dadash Adeh had nine kills, an ace and four assisted blocks. 

“Obviously [Greves’] setting quality is next level, and he barely misses. He gives the best opportunities he can for his attackers. Something I saw today, wasn’t just his setting quality, he was choosing the right players at the right moments,” said Dadash Adeh. 

“He has some tendencies, we knew that. In certain transitions, in certain positions he likes to find Dawson Pratt in zone two, but today he changed that a bit. He set zone four more often. When they had Gavin Moes coming in, he found him in very important moments, and Reeve [Gingera], he found him in very important moments. If I was going to name a guy that was a main factor from the other team’s offence, it was for sure Greves.”

The game started out in Manitoba’s favour. They took the first set in commanding fashion, with all four of their service aces in the match occurring in the first. 

Weekes put down back-to-back points from the line to give the Herd an 8-2 lead, and Heppner got in on the fun shortly after, as did Dadash Adeh, as the Bisons burst out to an eight point lead, and won the first by ten. 

The set win was Manitoba’s fourth in a row against UBC. But the T-Birds – who also lost the first set the night before against OUA champion Queen’s before taking the next three – remained patient and battled their way back into the game.  

The T-Birds led from the jump in set two, aided by errors on four of the first six points from Manitoba, who hit -.091 overall.

Defensively, they were able to negate the potent presence of Manitoba middles Jordon Heppner and Jonah Dueck, with the former leading the conference in hitting percentage, at .455. The pair combined for seven kills in the game, but neither hit above .215, and their impact was limited at times on the attack, including in the second. 

“The serving pressure was huge,” Dadash Adeh noted. “Our passing collapsed. Our strength is to run the middles when we are in system, and we were just out of system consistently.”

The key momentum shift occurred in set three, a back-and-forth battle that was easily the tightest of any in the contest. 

The T-Birds surged to leads of 9-5, and 13-10, but Manitoba – like they’d done all year – were resilient and responded. 

With Dadash Adeh putting pressure on UBC from the line, the Bisons took the lead 14-13, scoring three points in a row. Weekes, Dadash Adeh and Ludwig all had kills during the run. 

After UBC tied the game at 14, Manitoba went on another run, scoring four of the next five, including a kill from Heppner and a solo block from Weekes. They took a 21-19 lead shortly after, but then it was UBC’s turn to flip the script. 

The T-Birds scored six of the next seven points to steal the set, thanks in large part to their defence. 

They were on the winning end of numerous marathon rallies, recording a combined 68 digs overall in the game, including a bevvy after the Herd’s 21st point, which ended following a Manitoba error. 

A Pratt kill tied the game at 21, and one point later UBC took the lead for good after another long rally that went their way, ended once again by a Bisons error.  

“We performed really well. The four or five serves that I had put them out of system and gave us free balls that we could score on, which was good. We have shown that we are capable of comebacks. We have that mental headspace. At 21-19, we had two very bad errors. We forced two attacks because of all the emotions that were going around,” reflected Dadash Adeh on the whirlwind third set. 

“We just wanted to close out the game. We ended up missing the shots that we normally don’t miss. They took the lead. Momentum completely switched.”

In the fourth, UBC’s serving took over. Pratt and Gingera combined for three aces over a span of seven T-Birds points, helping to close out the game. 

Despite the result, Manitoba still has plenty to play for tomorrow. They will go toe-to-toe with OUA finalist and U SPORTS Championships host Windsor at 3 PM ET, looking for their first medal at nationals in 14 years. 

“We’ve been working for almost three years since I got here to make it to nationals. In this journey, we’ve had quite a bit of disappointment. I feel like those disappointments have helped fuel us and led us here, to thrive and be hungry for a win,” said Dadash Adeh.