Aneesa Heatherington, UBC Thunderbirds
VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds (8-1) led from start to finish in a straight-sets victory (25-19, 25-15, 25-14) over the MacEwan Griffins (1-8) at War Memorial Gym to jump into first place in the Canada West.
Shane Kerrison topped the Griffins' roster with eight kills and three digs in the loss. Jonathan Mohler recorded a team-high 11 assists.
UBC head coach Kerry MacDonald thought his team responded well after their first loss off the season a week ago.
"I thought we did a great job tonight," said the second-year head coach. "We weren't too happy with our execution early in sets against U of A and that was a bit of an emphasis for us today. We wanted to be good off the start, last week I thought we pushed well at the end of sets but we were getting behind too early. We were the first to 8 points in every set, first to the technical every set and I'm really happy with that."
The 'Birds got out to a hot start leading 15-8 in the first, but the Griffins won the next four points – thanks to a pair of kills from Jordan Peters, one from Ryan Zachary, and a UBC error – to stay within striking distance at 15-12. Irvan Brar came back in off the bench and made it 20-17 T-Birds on one of his team-high eight kills of the match, a lead they carried to a 25-19 victory.
Keturakis' third ace put the T-Birds up 15-7 in the second, and off a first-touch kill Danny Aspenlieder gave UBC a set point that Keturakis converted with his fourth ace of the match to take it 25-15.
Keturakis and Jordan Deshane teamed up for a massive block to go ahead 11-6 in the third before Aspenlieder closed it out on his fourth kill to win it 25-14.
"It was super clinical," said Aspenlieder. "We served really aggressively and got a great result out of it. I think we did a great job resetting after every point, it never felt like we were giving up a run, we were always feeling confident."
The second-year left-side finished with four kills on the day, and is continuing to progress.
"It was pretty sweet, I'm hoping to just develop more as a player and do my part to contribute to the team," added the Vernon, BC native. "I can't point out too much we did wrong today."
Keith West and Mat Guidi put up seven kills each while Deshane led with 4 blocks. Brar and West each had four digs in the victory that showcased UBC's depth.
"I think it was a balanced effort, our team defence was better tonight," added MacDonald. "As much as the score looks lopsided, we're playing good volleyball in order to make that happen and I don't think we'll make a whole lot of changes for tomorrow."
The rematch at War Memorial Gym is set for Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. PT.
PHOTO: Rich Lam, UBC Thunderbirds