HALIFAX – In the first of a two-game series, the UBC Thunderbirds defeated the Dalhousie Tigers 3-2 in a very close match.

The Tigers grabbed the first set of the match. After a seesaw battle early on, the Tigers capitalized on a UBC serving error and led the rest of the set. The Thunderbirds made a big push toward the end of the set, but the Tigers held their ground, winning 27-25.

The Thunderbirds got off to an early lead in the second set and maintained control to tie the match up with a 25-20 win. The Tigers closed the gap on a number of occasions but could not change the momentum in the favour with a number of attack and service errors.

After a seesaw battle of consistent play by both teams, the Tigers came out on top with a huge stuff block by Matthew Donovan to take the set 25-23.

Jonathan Macdonald went on a six-point serving run to put the Tigers up early on in the set, but fund themselves trailing 16-15 at the technical timeout after the Thunderbirds chiseled away at the Tigers lead. UBC kept the run going, taking the fourth 25-21 with Alex Russell getting the final kill, forcing a fifth and final set.

The fifth set was action-packed with both teams once again trading points and the lead. UBC was the first to eight, heading into the home stretch with a one-point lead over the Tigers. Dal battled back to tie it up at 11, but the Thunderbirds pressed on taking the set 15-12 and the match 3-2.

Mac McNicol (Calgary) led the Thunderbirds with a match-high 20 kills and had five digs while Milan Nikic (Calgary) had 56 assists and 11 digs. Kristen O'Brien led the tigers with 14 kills and 12 digs while Scott Bailey added 11 kills and three digs of his own.

Both teams face off again tomorrow afternoon at Dalplex at 11 a.m. PST for the second match of the two-game series.