WINNIPEG – The host Winnipeg Wesmen snapped the four-game winning streak of the UBC Thunderbirds men's volleyball team on Friday evening.
 
With the 20-25, 25-21, 25-22, 28-26 victory, Winnipeg improves to 5-4 while the No. 4-ranked Thunderbirds dropped to 4-3.
 
UBC was led by fourth-year outside Mac McNicol's (Calgary) match-high 20 kills. Mat Guidi (Coquitlam, B.C.) was next with 12 kills. Byron Keturakis (Surrey, B.C.) added eight digs and four blocks.
 
Fifth-year middle blocker Brendan Black led the Wesmen with 14 kills, nine digs and two blocks. Third-year outside hitter David Bommersbach added 11 kills and three service aces. Fourth-year outside Brendan Thielmann finished with 10 kills and nine digs.
 
In the opening set both teams battled to the 6-6 mark early on. UBC took advantage of four Wesmen attacking errors to reel off five points to take an 11-6 lead. The T-Birds soon after went into the technical break leading 16-14. After the teams exchanged points later in the set, the T-Birds closed out the opening set on a kill by McNicol followed by a service ace by Irvan Brar (Surrey, B.C.). First set score was 25-20 in UBC's favour.
 
Winnipeg gained the advantage in the second set leading 16-14 at the technical break. Black made his presence felt for the Wesmen soon after with four kills down the stretch to power the Wesmen to a 25-21 set two win.
 
The third set was a close one with neither team leading by more than two points heading into the technical timeout. UBC went into the break with a slim 16-15 lead. Winnipeg recovered and took advantage of three consecutive UBC errors to win the set 25-22 grabbing a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
The Wesmen carried their momentum into the fourth set, leading 16-13 at the technical break. Winnipeg was cruising leading 21-14 until UBC reeled off six straight points to close the gap to 21-20. The teams remained tied on five more occasions all the way to 26-26 when Winnipeg closed out the match. Josh McKay pounded a service ace to put the Wesmen ahead 27-26. An attacking error by UBC closed out the fourth set in Winnipeg's favor by a 28-26 margin.
 
The two teams will resume their weekend series Saturday night. Match time is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. PT.