The UFV Cascades fell to the UBC Thunderbirds in three hard-fought sets (25-20, 28-26, 25-19) on Friday night at War Memorial Gym.

The result drops the Cascades to 16-3 on the season, while UBC moves to 15-4.

How it happened:
The highly anticipated top-table matchup started close, as expected, with several opportunities for the blue and gold to pull ahead with Akash Grewal at the service line. It seemed as though UFV might close the gap after a timeout but Grewal delivered another kill to stifle the comeback. The Thunderbirds maintained their advantage, pulling ahead by four points before closing out the set on a UFV attacking error, 25-20.

UFV came out strong in the second set, quickly building a four-point lead, but UBC fought back to even the score. UBC called their first timeout of the set, trailing 16-14 after a Mandi Feist kill. Following the break, the Thunderbirds went on a four-point run, highlighted by a short cross-court kill by Doyon and a Lucy Borowski shot from behind the attacking line to put UBC ahead 18-16. UFV tied it at 19-all, and the teams traded points until the end, but it was UBC that eked out the 28-26 set win.

The third set began with two UBC blocks sandwiched by a Cascades error, giving the Thunderbirds their largest lead of the match so far at 8-5. After a timeout, UFV managed to pull the score back to even, where it remained for much of the frame. It wasn't until the final moments that UBC pulled ahead to solidify the win. Borowski earned a point off a big jumping tip, while Grewal fired two strong cross-court kills, pushing the T-Birds to a 22-18 lead. The match ended on a Cascades attacking error, with UBC taking the set 25-19 and securing the sweep.

Notable:
Mandi Feist had a game-high 14 kills, two aces, and six digs for the Cascades, Talia Attieh tallied 13 kills and seven digs, and Lauren Attieh earned six kills and nine digs.

With her two aces in the match, Feist is now just one ace short of the program single-season record of 35.

The Cascades close their regular season on Saturday in Vancouver, where a win would see them finish at the top of the conference. 

Up next:
The Cascades and Thunderbirds meet again on Saturday. The game can be seen live on Canada West TV.