For five years running, the University of B.C. women's volleyball team has proven they're the best in the country.
On Sunday at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., the T-Birds won the opening set but then dropped two before they came back to defeat the No. 1 Alberta Pandas and win Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) gold in five sets 25-21, 15-25, 19-25, 25-20, 15-12.
The come-from-behind victory is the fifth consecutive championship for the UBC varsity team but, remarkably, is not a Canadian record. The triumph gives UBC a record total of nine overall CIS banners in volleyball, which is two more than Alberta and Winnipeg, but the victory is still one short of the six consecutive championships earned by the universities of Alberta and Winnipeg.
T-Birds head coach Doug Reimer said his team pulled out a hard-fought win. In his eyes, they were outplayed but didn't let up.
"We found a way," Reimer said after the win in a report released by the university.
"I think of the first set as symbolic of the rest. We were able to hang in there and turn things around. I couldn't be prouder of this group. A lot of teams when they are getting it handed to them and when it's not what you are expecting to happen... they kinda go away. We never did."
Momentum defined the entire match. Down 10-6 early in the opening set, UBC didn't get rattled and patience paid off. Trailing 20-16, the T-Birds went on a 9-1 run to pass the Pandas and win the first set.
They dropped the next two sets but didn't drop out of the game. A dramatic fourth set preceded the game-winning, championship-clinching final set, which UBC won by three points.
This was the third time during their current national championship run that the T-Birds bashed out a win in five sets. They edged Montreal and Calgary 3-2 in 2008 and 2009, respectively, before defeating Manitoba 3-1 in 2010 and Laval 3-0 last year.
Lisa Barclay was named the tournament MVP.
Briana Liau Kent, a graduate of Eric Hamber secondary school who played with the city's Thunder club as well as Team B.C., was awarded the R.W. Pugh Fair Play Award.
[email protected] Twitter: @MHStewart
