Pratt powers UBC past Brandon in five
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Dawson Pratt proved too much for the Brandon University Bobcats to handle in crunch time on Friday night.
The hard-hitting lefty piled up 17 kills, including two set-clinchers in a 3-2 (25-22, 24-26, 25-19, 21-25, 15-11) UBC Thunderbirds win in Canada West men’s volleyball action at the Healthy Living Centre.
“He’s just a Swiss Army knife. A guy who started here a left side because he’s so damn good in reception, but he just allows us to do so much offensively,” said UBC coach Michael Hawkins.
“He’s left-handed, so it allows is to set more medium and high ball, but he’s such a good blocker in that position. On this team and across our league, there are a lot of really good left sides that can do some damage, so having Dawson in there to serve well, block well and spike at .433 efficiency, everything we could ask for.”
UBC improved to 6-1, dropping BU to 3-2.
The T-Birds made the first four-point run when Alex Emery stepped back to serve and ripped a pair of aces to lead 10-6.
From there, neither side gave an inch as they traded points with minimal errors, up to 19-14 UBC.
The Thunderbirds made a few mistakes in a row to let Brandon back into it at 19-17, but settled down after coach Michael Hawkins called a timeout.
The back-and-forth, high-end volleyball continued with few mistakes. One of the few occurred on Ethan Baraniuk’s long attack to end the frame.
The second set continued with more of the same, trading points to 12-12. This time, Brandon made the big run on UBC errors to pull ahead by three.
The late stages of the set were all about the guys coming off the bench.
The Bobcats benefited from the Thunderbirds’ ugliest stretch of the night to stay ahead 23-19, but struggled when Nicholas Johnson stepped in as a serving sub and rattled off four points to tie it up.
It took two Grant Wilson timeouts and a bold attack by substitute Ryden Hargreaves, over a double block and down to bring up set point.
Two missed serves later, Alfredo Enns subbed in and painted the back line to tie the match 1-1.
Brandon didn’t slow down a bit heading into the third set, opening up a 4-1 lead and stretching it thanks to a string of T-Bird errors while the Bobcats went error-free at the net for the first 15 points.
Their 11-4 advantage wasn’t safe, but it afforded them a few mishaps in the middle of the set.
They made more than a few, though.
Mason Lange, Liam Kindle and Baraniuk all misfired as UBC fought back, then Nik Reimer rattled off three straight kills to tie it 14-14.
Reimer, who didn’t play in the first two sets, capped a seven-point T-Birds run with his team up 18-14.
Pratt decided the last four points of the set. He made a kill, ripped the ball into two Matt Siebenga blocks, then kept hammering away and found the set winner to pull ahead 2-1.
The Bobcats roared ahead in the fourth set, with Riley Brunet blasting two kills and adding a block in the middle to make it 5-0.
Once again, Brandon stayed ahead for a while, and this time, avoided the problematic runs by passing well enough to force-feed Brunet and maintain at least a three-point edge.
The fifth-year middle had four kills in the set, and pushed BU to the tiebreaker.
The fifth set stayed within two points until Pratt aced Bevan to lead 9-6.
UBC extended the run to a back-breaking four points when Pratt ripped another off Hargreaves’ arms and into the rafters.
After BU finally ended the run, Lange fired a serve wide to trail 12-7.
Siebenga missed BU’s next serve to push UBC even closer to match point, which Pratt buried against a solo block.
“Even when things weren’t going well today, I felt like the guys were pushing,” Hawkins said. “The huge comeback in the third set is a really good example.
“We were maybe pressing at moments in the fourth, but in the fifth, we just stayed patient and got the job done.”
The teams meet again today at 6:45 p.m.
QUICK HITS: In Edmonton, the BU men’s basketball team (2-3) beat the MacEwan Griffins 92-86. Munroop Gill had 33 points, with Max Winters adding 18 for Brandon.
MacEwan fell to 0-5. Brandon and MacEwan play again today, before the Bobcats have a bye week.
» tfriesen@brandonsun.com