VANCOUVER - The No. 7 UBC Thunderbirds fell in five sets 3-2 (23-25, 25-21, 23-25, 25-21, 15-12) to the No. 8 Brandon Bobcats in Canada West men's volleyball action.
BOX SCORE
After trailing in set scores twice, Brandon fought off elimination and forced a fifth-set in which the Bobcats took over control and came away with a win.
"We just struggled to find flow throughout the whole night," said UBC head coach
Richard Schick. "I thought we played too tentative at times and Brandon made bigger plays when it counted. At times, they had guys that stepped up and made plays against us. I don't think we played poorly but we just didn't have that firepower that Brandon came at us with at crunch time.
"
David Zeyha did a great job for us. We're going to regroup and come back hard tomorrow."
UBC fell behind 9-4 in the fifth and deciding set, before a service ace from
Milan Nikic (Calgary, AB) brought the T-Birds to within a point of Brandon at 11-10.
Jarrid Ireland (Winnipeg, MB) provided two more kills that allowed UBC to keep pace when Brandon pulled ahead 12-10 and 13-11, but the T-Birds couldn't complete the comeback.
UBC got off to a good start in the fourth set, building a 7-3 advantage. Brandon replied with a 10-3 run to go ahead 13-10 before a Rob Gotch (Okotoks, AB) kill capped off five straight points for the T-Birds.
Brandon pulled ahead for good after a 5-0 run of their own to go up 21-17.
After splitting the first two sets with the Bobcats, the Thunderbirds captured the third set to put themselves into a position to win the match. Down 23-22, UBC recorded the final three points to win with the final kill coming from
Chris Howe (Salt Spring Island, BC).
At the end of the night, Ireland had 15 kills to lead UBC while
David Zeyha (Grande Prairie, AB) picked up 13 and
Ben Chow (Surrey, BC) added 11.
Nikic served tough all night, picking up three aces to go along with 47 assists.
Brandon left-side Sam Tuivai finished with a match-high 24 kills to go along with seven digs.
The win clinches a playoff spot for the Bobcats, as they improve their record to 11-8. The Thunderbirds, who had previously clinched a playoff spot, fall to 12-7 on the season.
The two teams will meet again Saturday night in a rematch at Brandon University's Healthy Living Centre.
- with files from Matt Packwood (Brandon Sports Information)
-30-
