VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds men's volleyball team finished the preseason portion of its 2014-15 schedule on Thursday night with a 3-1 loss to the Trinity Western University Spartans at Fleetwood Park Secondary School in Surrey.

The set scores were 25-21, 25-21, 21-25, 25-23 in favour of TWU.

The contest marked a match-up between a pair of Fleetwood Park graduates as UBC's Ben Chow met former high school teammate Nick Del Bianco.

The T-Birds trailed 23-18 in the fourth set but replied with five straight points. However, the Spartans were able to escape with the victory after scoring two straight points to close out the match.

UBC's next matches will mark the start of Canada West regular season play. The Thunderbirds will travel to Edmonton to face the MacEwan University Griffins Oct. 10-11. The team's first home games of the regular season will be Oct. 17-18 when the Mt. Royal University Cougars come to War Memorial Gymnasium.