VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds handed the Calgary Dinos a 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-17) straight sets loss to open their two-game series Friday night at War Memorial Gym.

Coltyn Liu and Matt Neaves led the way for the T-Birds each with a game high 10 kills while Michael Dowhaniuk and Gerald Murray each added seven kills of their own. Ben Hooker and Jordan Deshane chipped in with three service aces each as the total team effort improved the ‘Birds record to 4-3 on the season. For the Dinos it was Liam Kuppe leading the way with eight kills followed by Parker Siroishka with seven, while Mac McNicol and Mitchell Higgin  registered six kills each as the visitors fell to 5-2 on the campaign.

UBC came out on top in the first set 25-20, leading the way for the home side was Liu and Neaves with four kills each while Liu also added a set high two service aces. Mitchell Higgin’s led the way for the Dinos with two kills and an ace.
 
The second set was even more back and forth featuring seven lead changes while the score was also tied on 12 occasions. One of the main highlights was a marathon rally that ended with one of Liu’s four kills giving UBC the 11-9 advantage, this after a brilliant group effort diving dig from the Dinos to keep play alive. Calgary would battle back to eventually even things at 14-14 and then take the lead on a Siroishka ace followed by a Liam Laidlaw kill giving the visitors a 16-14 lead into the technical timeout. The teams would then trade blows until Neaves gave the ‘Birds a 22-21 edge followed by a double hit by the Dinos to make it 23-21. One of Dowhaniuk’s four kills in the frame would earn UBC a set point at 24-21 before Deshane stepped up to win it with an ace, taking the set 25-21 and the 2-0 lead.

The third frame featured five lead changes and was highlighted by four kills courtesy of Neaves while Hooker delivered two of his three service aces. The momentum changing moments however would come down the stretch with Nick Mickelberry and Gerard Murray combined for a string of key blocks to stymie the Calgary offence en route to a 25-17 win and 3-0 straight sets triumph.
 
“Really proud of my squad’s effort,” said UBC head coach Michael Hawkins. “Honestly this is the product of two really good weeks of practice with the bye week, we knew there were things we had to work on and credit to our guys for coming in and working hard. In the first two sets we struggled with block defence, we were in good spots but we weren’t being rewarded but our guys made a few key changes in the third set as to how we were pressing and finally got rewarded.”
 
The T-Birds and Dinos meet again Saturday night with a 6:30 p.m. PT start time at War Memorial Gym.

[SOURCE: UBC]