VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds men's volleyball team will celebrate the end of 2013 with a three-game non-conference series in California against two of the NCAA's best squads.
 
The third-ranked team in the CIS will face the Pepperdine University Waves, rated sixth in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I-II Men's Coaches Top 15 Preseason Poll, on Sunday, Dec. 29 and Tuesday, Dec. 31. Both games will take place at 1 p.m. at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.
 
LIVE STATS (Dec. 29)
LIVE STATS (Dec. 31)

UBC will conclude its trip with a game at Long Beach State University, home of the 49ers, on Jan. 2 at 5 p.m. at Walter Pyramid. The 49ers are ranked fourth in the NCAA's top division of men's volleyball and garnered one first-place vote in the preseason coaches' poll released last week.
 
"It's a great opportunity to get some top-notch competition against two of the top teams in the United States, where we have the three matches to stay sharp," said UBC head coach Richard Schick. "It's going to be a good test for us. We'll have a business-like approach to it even though we're in California."
 
In between the matches, the players will get to visit some of the attractions in the area, such as Disneyland and Universal Studios. The team will also attend the Pepperdine-Brigham Young NCAA men's basketball game on Dec. 30.
 
This will be the third straight year that UBC and Pepperdine will face off.
 
Last December, the Thunderbirds and Waves split two games, Dec. 29-30, 2012, at the Thompson Rivers University tournament in Kamloops, B.C.
 
The season before that, UBC dropped matches at both Pepperdine (Jan. 2, 2012) and Long Beach State (Jan. 3, 2012) as part of a four-game tour of California. The Thunderbirds also played at UCLA (Dec. 30, 2011) and California State Northridge (Dec. 31, 2011).
 
UBC is currently in second place in the Canada West conference standings, with a record of 9-3.
 
After the California trip, the T-Birds will open the second half of league play with a visit to Kelowna to face UBC Okanagan in a two-game set Jan. 10-11.