TORONTO – The Western Mustangs fell to the UBC Thunderbirds in four sets (20-25, 25-23, 19-25, 20-25) on Friday afternoon in the quarter-finals at the U SPORTS Women's Volleyball Championship, presented by Jason Rinaldi.
 
"Overall we can be a little disappointed with our execution level," said head coach Melissa Bartlett. "We made a few too many unforced errors, but I'm as proud as always about the way we battled and played and the character and grit we've shown in the last couple matches."
 
With the loss the Mustangs will move on to the consolation semifinal where they'll take on the McMaster Marauders. The Thunderbirds will continue on in pursuit of a national title tomorrow with a match-up against Trinity Western.
 
"We're disappointed that we can't move on, but pretty happy with how we played," noted Tia Miric.
 
Kelsey Veltman topped the purple and white scoresheet with 14.5 points, while Aja Gyimah followed closely with 12.5. UBC was led by Danielle Brisebois's 23.5 points.
 
Tia Miric and UBC libero Samantha Patko also had impressive performances, each earning Player of the Game honours.
 
"As an undersize left side against a very big team she did an excellent job attacking," said Bartlett when discussing Miric's performance. "But something the stats don't show is how solid she was on serve receive, and she had some spectacular digs against some pretty hot offensive weapons."
 
The Mustangs were barely recognizable in their first minutes on the floor of the Mattamy Athletic Centre, as the T-Birds quickly established a commanding lead that put the Mustangs in a hole 11 points deep.
 
UBC entered into the match as the U SPORTS statistical leaders in service aces, and wasted no time in showing why. Both Juliana Kaufmanis and Ciara Hanly showed off from the service line and the Mustangs struggled to respond defensively.
 
It wasn't until the purple and white serving and blocking – another strong point for UBC – improved that Western moved up the scoreboard. While the Mustangs were able to narrow the Thunderbirds lead, they were never able to top it and dropped the set 20-25.
 
Set two saw the Mustangs back in fighting form as they kept pace with UBC early on before surging ahead.
 
Western capitalized on accurate target serving to throw a wrench in the Thunderbird offence, while the Mustangs hitters almost always hit their mark.
 
The respective performances of Scott and Veltman made quite a difference for Western as the duo took control of the set. They pushed the purple and white score along in every conceivable way, as both recorded kills, blocks, and at least one ace each.
 
Defensively, setter Kat Tsiofas took on a large role, supplemented by Tia Miric and Courtney Sestric.
 
UBC continued to rely on Brisebois to generate points, with the Canadian Senior National Team member recording six kills throughout the set. However, her performance wasn't enough to keep the team afloat and the Mustangs took the second set 25-23.
 
The Thunderbirds responded in the third set through Brisebois, who racked up a commanding seven kills. Western was unable to slow down the fifth-year veteran as she cut through the typically strong purple and white block.
 
UBC had more success blocking despite only recording one by the end of the set. The Mustangs had resorted to tips to make sure the ball made it over the Thunderbirds but remained in the court – a move UBC quickly adjusted to to take the third by a six-point margin.
 
Set four saw the Thunderbirds falter from the service line, but the Mustangs were unable to capitalize on the unforced errors.
 
Western struggled to maintain consistency and focus throughout the set as UBC stayed on their toes. Their varied offence kept Western guessing, while the purple and white blocks weren't coming as easily as they did in previous sets.
 
Bartlett noted that "[UBC has] a lot of offensive options that kind of caught up to us at the end. We just weren't able to defend against everybody as well as we hoped."
 
The Mustangs trailed for most of the set, eventually falling 20-25.
 
Western is back on the court tomorrow at 12 p.m., where they'll take on the McMaster Marauders in the consolation semifinal round. Fans can catch all the action online at USPORTS.live