VANCOUVER – The fifth-ranked UBC Thunderbirds men's volleyball team recorded a straight sets victory over the visiting MacEwan Griffins in Canada West action on Friday night at War Memorial Gymnasium.
 
The Thunderbirds, now in a three-way tie for fourth in the league standings at 7-4, won Friday's match by scores of 25-23, 25-16 and 25-19. MacEwan falls to 1-10 with the loss.
 
UBC's Irvan Brar (Surrey, B.C.) led all players with 10 kills and seven digs, while teammate Alex Russell (Surrey, B.C.) had nine kills. Byron Keturakis (Surrey, B.C.) had 30 assists for the Thunderbirds as well as two service aces.
 
Kai Hesthammer led MacEwan in both kills (eight) and digs (six). Matt Mohler had 25 assists on the night.
 
The two teams opened with an entertaining, back-and-forth first set, which featured tie scores on 10 different occasions and three lead changes.
 
A 7-3 run by the Griffins, capped off by a kill from Shane Kerrison, gave the visitors a 12-10 lead, but UBC replied with five straight points, thanks to two kills from Brar, and one each from Russell and Mac McNicol (Calgary).
 
Jonah Gilham knocked down a kill for MacEwan to tie the set at 17 apiece, but that was the last time the teams were tied. Joel Regehr (Courtenay, B.C.) won the next point for UBC, and the T-Bird eventually went ahead 23-19, and although Kerrison, Max Vriend and Hesthammer recorded three consecutive kills for MacEwan to make it 23-22, the T-Birds held on for the two-point win.
 
The home team won the next two sets with relative ease compared to the first. The Thunderbirds started the second by winning eight of the first 10 points, with Mat Guidi providing the final two kills in the run.
 
A mini 5-2 surge, with two Hesthammer kills and an ace from Kerrison, made the score 10-7, still in favour of UBC. But the T-Birds answered by claiming seven of the next nine points. The teams traded points the rest of the way for a 25-16 UBC triumph.
 
The Thunderbirds had to fight off a comeback attempt in the third to earn the straight sets win. Down 18-11, Kerrison got a kill to spark a late-match revival as the Griffins went on a 7-2 run to get within two points. Hesthammer added two kills while Vriend and Kerrison also delievered aces from the service line.
 
However, UBC was able to turn the tide, producing a 5-1 surge to finish the match.
 
The two teams will face each other again on Saturday night, with the first serve slated for 6:30 p.m. PT, following the women's match at War Memorial Gym.