VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds, the fifth-ranked men's volleyball team in Canada, will wind up the first half of the Canada West season with a two-match doubleheader against the MacEwan Griffins this weekend in Vancouver.
 
UBC (6-4) sits in a tie for fifth in the tightly packed Canada West conference standings while MacEwan (1-9) is tied for 12th.
 
The matches are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Friday night and 6:30 p.m. on Saturday at War Memorial Gymnasium.
 
The Thunderbirds are coming off a road sweep of Mt. Royal in Calgary last weekend, winning 3-1 on Friday and 3-2 on Saturday, after the Cougars came back from a 2-0 deficit.
 
Mat Guidi (Coquitlam, B.C.) led UBC in kills on Friday with 13. The next night, he had 11, second on the team to Alex Russell (Surrey, B.C.), who knocked down 14 and also had 11 block assists. Russell continues to lead the Canada West with 1.43 blocks per set.
 
Mac McNicol (Calgary) is averaging 2.82 kills a set, Irvan Brar (Surrey, B.C.) has 2.70 per set and Guidi is close behind with 2.60. They are 20th, 22nd and 26th, respectively, in the Canada West in that category.
 
As a team, the Thunderbirds are league leaders in blocks per set with 2.84 while MacEwan is 10th (1.94). UBC is fifth in the following categories: kills per set (12.54), assists (11.32), digs (9.11) and hitting percentage (.267).
 
MacEwan comes into the weekend averaging 10.66 kills per set, good for 12th in the Canada West. The Griffins are also 11th in assists (10.20), 13th in digs (8.00) and 12th in hitting percentage (.191). MacEwan has lost six straight matches but have been competitive in that span. Over the past two weekends, the team took sets off traditional powers Alberta and Trinity Western.
 
Last season, the Thunderbirds won both conference matches, in Edmonton, by scores of 3-1 and 3-0.