The drive for five has arrived for Kyla Richey and the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds.
The Roberts Creek native capped off her stellar university career Sunday afternoon at McMaster University in Hamilton helping to lead UBC to its fifth straight national women's volleyball championship with a thrilling five set win over the Alberta Pandas (25-19, 15-25, 19-25, 25-20, 15-12).
UBC trailed two sets to one, but battled back for a five-point win in set four to send the match to its nail-biting conclusion.
The T-Birds jumped out to a 4-0 lead in set five, but saw Alberta battle back with three straight points. But UBC used its veteran poise and leadership from Richey and fellow fifth-year senior Rayel Quiring and second-year player Lisa Barclay, who led the T-Birds with a team high 12 kills, 19 points and five aces, to close out the match. Barclay was named the tournament MVP.
Coast Reporter reached Richey while the team was stuck in the Calgary airport Monday morning waiting for a flight back to Vancouver.
"It's tradition, Richey said with a laugh. "Every time we have been to nationals we either have a flight cancelled or delayed because of weather, so why break with tradition now."
Richey said it still hasn't quite sunk in that her career at UBC is over and that the team has just won five straight championships.
"Everyone was talking about the drive for five, but I was just trying to focus on this one game. For me is was the drive for one and not thinking about what happened in the past or the future," she said. "I still can't comprehend what we did."
Read more on this story on-line and in print in this Friday's edition of Coast Reporter.
