WINNIPEG - The UBC Thunderbirds picked up their second straight win of the season, downing the Winnipeg Wesmen 3-1 (20-25, 25-17, 25-21, 26-24) on the road Saturday afternoon.
Milo Warren, a transfer from VIU in his first season at UBC, had his biggest match as a T-Bird, notching 20 kills on .375 hitting to go along with one solo block and two block assists.
Warren came up big when it mattered all afternoon, and with the fourth set tied, he tallied a big kill to give UBC a 25-24 advantage.
Joe Cordonier picked up a solo block on the very next point to seal the set and match as UBC improved to 2-4 on the season.
Ben Chow added 11 kills and seven digs for UBC and
Demijan Savija, who is battling injuries, played two sets and picked up eight kills, one block, and one block assist.
Yari Kozel, who has been thrust into a starting role in the middle for UBC due to injuries and line-up shuffling, had another nice performance in his home province with five kills and no errors on 10 attacks and led UBC with two solo blocks and four block assists.
UBC libero
Blair Bann also continued his impressive start to the season with a match-high 18 digs. Bann, a two-time CIS Libero of the Year recipient, currently leads the Canada West with an average of 4.12 digs per game.
The Wesmen were paced offensively by the trio of Ty Loewen, Marc Ross, and Tom Douglas-Powell who combined for 36 of their squad's 47 kills.
Winnipeg led for the majority of the first set and then used a late 6-1 run to jump out to a 1-0 lead in the match. It was easily their best set of the matching as they tallied 15 kills on .385 hitting.
The momentum didn't last long, however, as UBC easily took the second set 25-17. The Wesmen bounced back with a better start to the third, going up 12-8 at one point, however, a 5-0 UBC run after the second technical timeout put UBC ahead for good in the frame.
UBC returns to Winnipeg next weekend, this time to battle the Manitoba Bisons on November 19 and 20.
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