Vancouver - The UBC Thunderbirds took care of buisness on the road on Friday, riding a balanced attack to a 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-18) win in Regina against the winless Cougars.
Five T-Birds recorded at least six kills, and the team outhit Regina .284 to .129 as the 'Birds improved to 8-3, while Regina falls to 0-11.
In all three sets the Cougars were able to hang around early, but the T-Birds were always able to find another gear and pull away late. In the first set it was 10-10 before UBC set off on a 9-0 run, highligted by three
Ben Chow kills, that really set the tone for the match.
Chow finished the game with seven kills and 11 digs.
Quentin Schmidt tied for the match high with 11 kills on .345 hitting.
Mac McNicol also had a great night, with eight kills on just 11 attacks, along with a solo block and two block assists.
Alex Russell and
Gabriel Aaron each had six kills as the 'Birds used a multifaceted attack to take the Regina defence apart.
Setter
Milan Nikic deserves much of the credit for that skillful ball distribution. He racked up 36 assists and had another strong night at the service line, with four aces.
Andrew Nelson had 11 kills for the Cougars and Rhodri Simmonds added eight. The Cougars hurt themselves at the service line on Friday, with 13 service errors and no aces to show for it.
UBC is 8-3 on the season, alone in second place and just two games back of conference-leading Trinity Western. They also have the longest current win streak in the conference at four games, which they will look to extend into the break as they wrap up the first half of their schedule on Saturday with a rematch against the Cougars at 7 p.m.
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