KAMLOOPS, B.C. - The No. 6 UBC Thunderbirds rallied from a 2-0 deficit to down the Pepperdine University Waves 3-2 to open the 2012 McDonalds International men's volleyball tournament at the Tournament Capital Centre on Saturday.
The set scores were: 18-25, 23-25, 25-18, 25-17 and 15-11.
Pepperdine is the No. 4-ranked team in NCAA Division I men's volleyball.
The tournament started late after the Dalhousie Tigers of Halifax were unable to get to Kamloops on Saturday.
"It's obviously not how you start but how you finish," said UBC head coach
Richard Schick. "Both teams struggled to find their rhythm all match long. It was your typical first match after Christmas for us and one of their first before the start of their year. It was a sloppy match with too many errors for both myself and coach Dunphy to like."
"I thought UBC played really hard and dug a lot of balls," said Pepperdine coach Marv Dunphy. "They made less serving errors than we did. We need to serve a lot better than we did today. I have to give them credit, they played some good defence and sided out well."
UBC was led by fifth-year outside hitter
David Zeyha (Grande Prairie, AB) with 14 kills in 24 chances. He came off the bench with the team down 2-0 and got praise from Schick.
"He hit .400 and passed and dug the ball well," said Schick. "As a team, it was a roller coaster on passing and serving but we picked it up when David came in."
Zeyha's final kill gave UBC the victory in the fifth set. The T-Birds trailed 2-1 early but responded with a 6-2 run that gave them the lead for good.
Down 9-8 early in the fourth, UBC won 15 of the next 19 points to take control, with Zeyha providing three kills and a service ace in the run. He also got the kill on the final play of the set.
The T-Birds' comeback began after they won a back-and-forth third game. Up just 18-17, UBC ended with a flurry, capturing seven of the final eight points.
Jarrid Ireland (Winnipeg, MB) had 10 kills in 28 chances for UBC, which got 35 assists and three service aces from setter
Milan Nikic (Calgary, AB).
Ian Perry (Abbotsford, BC) had 13 digs.
Pepperdine was led by Maurice Torres with 26 kills in 49 chances. Parker Kalmbach wound up with 12 kills in 21 opportunities. Kyle Gerrans had 10 kills in 25 chances.
Matt West had 50 assists while Torres and Ryan Plueger each had a team-high nine digs.
The win is the first for UBC over an NCAA Division I opponent since Oct. 2009. Last year, UBC lost 3-1 to Pepperdine in a non-conference game in Malibu, Calif.
UBC's next game will be against Thompson Rivers on Sunday at 1 p.m. The T-Birds' match against Dalhousie, scheduled for Saturday night, has been cancelled.
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