Edmonton, AB - The UBC Thunderbirds men's volleyball improve to 2-0 on the season with a 3-0 victory over MacEwan University (25-22, 25-19, 25-23) Saturday night in Edmonton.

The Thunderbirds proved to be to much for the CIS newcomers, especially in the middle of the court. UBC's size down the middle with Alex Russell (6-foot-10) and Chris Howe (6-foot-7) limited the Griffins offensive game plan. 

Irvan Brar paced the visiting Thunderbirds with six kills and an ace in the opening set, which UBC won 25-22. Marcus Ernewein responded for the Griffins with five kills of his own to lead the home team. Brar finished the night with nine kills.

Ben Chow turned in an impressive performance, converted on all four kill attempts in the second set, as the Thunderbirds cruised to a 25-19 advantage, going up 2-0. Chow led the Thunderbirds with 10 kills and nine digs.

The third set proved to be the closest played set of the match, with teams trading points often. Mac McNicol finished off the game with a big swing, and also booked four kills, two aces and one block in the final set. The final score of the third set was 25-23. McNicol, along with Alex Russell, both finished the night with nine kills.

"I thought we did a better job tonight with our consistency and our composure from the get go," said UBC head coach Richard Schick. "We played from behind at the start of the match and again in the third set (down 5-0 to start), but pushed back hard through a tight final set through the 20 point mark. Milan Nikic had possibly the best setting performance of his career tallying 19 set assists after the first set and totalling 39 for the match. Offense was equally distributed again with Chow with 10 kills and Russell and McNicol with nine kills each."

UBC will be back at War Memorial Gymnasium next weekend for their home opener. They will square off against Mount Royal University Friday, October 17th and Saturday, October 18th. Both games are scheduled to start at 8:00 pm.