VANCOUVER – The T-Birds certainly had to take a punch early in the first match of their best-of-three quarterfinal series, as they squeaked out a first set win and dropped the second against the visiting Cascades.
 
But following that, they grabbed the momentum midway through the third and never looked back from there, taking a four-set win in their playoff opener (25-22, 20-25, 25-17, 25-16).
 
"I think we saw glimpses of some really strong Cascades volleyball that could beat Thunderbird volleyball," noted UFV outside hitter Lauren Attieh. "We need more consistent pushes against them because they're a strong team that responds to good volleyball. Coming into this series as the number seven seed against the number two team... I think our punches are hard and aggressive compared to what you would think from a lower ranked seed in a quarterfinal."
 
Kylee Glanville and Lucy Borowski combined for 29 kills, 12 digs and five aces in a strong effort from UBC's top two outside hitters. Elizabeth Lee recorded nine kills and tied her season-high with 11 digs, while Issy Robertshaw tallied 29 assists, 10 digs and three blocks.
 
Lauren Attieh led the way for the Cascades with 17 kills and six digs, while Talia Attieh and Mandi Feist each had 11 kills of their own.
 
The two teams were nearly impossible to separate throughout the first set, with neither team leading by more than three points at any point in the frame. While the T-Birds kept their noses in front for bulk of the action, the Cascades refused to go away quietly as both teams traded powerful swings back-and-forth.
 
It was actually the road team that had a better hitting percentage (.444 vs .400), but the T-Birds had better volume with an incredible 18 kills led by Glanville with seven. Jocelyn Lenarcic and Borowski were the ones to land the final blows on the last two points to put the home team up in set count.
 
They were pegged back the following set, however, in a second that was much the same as the first until the Cascades ripped off a 9-3 run to take control after the score had been tied at 15 points apiece. The attacking duo of Lauren and Talia Attieh powered that burst with some timely kills, and they evened up the overall score with a 25-20 set win.
 
The Cascades continued to be on the front foot to begin the third, and held a slim lead up until 13-11. A UBC timeout was called to try and flip the momentum, and it certainly did get flipped, to the tune of a 10-1 run that put the home team back in the driver's seat.
 
The T-Birds cruised to the third set win from there, and were able to cruise for large portions of the fourth as well. A series of kills from Borowski and Glanville got their team off to a strong start in what turned out to be the final frame, as the Thunderbirds led by as many as 10 points before closing out the match at 25-16.
 
"We knew coming in that UFV has some veteran players and a year ago they were full value for first in the league," added UBC head coach Doug Reimer. They're always going to throw everything at you and I thought they came out and played really free and to a better degree than we did so credit to them. Tomorrow will be another battle and we have to be prepped; we've got to shots at it now and we need to win one of our next two matches."
 
The best-of-three Canada West quarterfinal resumes Friday evening with game two set for 5:30 p.m. PT. at War Memorial Gym. You can catch all the action on Canada West TV.