KAMLOOPS, BC – The UBC Thunderbirds (4-2) made the most of a weekend trip to BC's Interior by completing a gritty come-from-behind victory in five sets (29-27, 22-25, 20-25, 25-18, 17-15) over the Thompson Rivers Wolfpack (1-7) Saturday night. The win completed the weekend sweep for the 'Birds and gave them some solid momentum as they prepare for next weekend's rivalry match-up with U Sports' number two ranked Trinity Western Spartans.
 
The 'Birds utilized a balanced attack as three players recorded in double digits for kills (Irvan Brar 17, Cam Fennema 15 and Mat Guidi 12), while Byron Keturakis recorded an astronomical 54 assists.
 

COMEBACK COMPLETE! @ubcmvb take it in 5 sets over @GoTRUWolfPack. @ibubrar leads with 17 kills ? #GoBirdsGo pic.twitter.com/Gm5HOjJA4R

— UBC Thunderbirds (@ubctbirds) November 20, 2016

 
Daniel Eikland Rod's 19 kills and Tyler Pomietlarz's 46 assists paced TRU.
 
"The first set was a pretty good battle and I think we generally did a good job and opened up the way we wanted," said UBC Head Coach Kerry MacDonald. "But in the next two TRU found another level and played the best volleyball of the weekend."
 
In the fourth set the 'Birds jumped out to a 22-11 lead on the back of strong attacking by Brar and Keturakis. The weekend saw two firsts on MacDonald's head coaching resume; his first ever Canada West Friday night win and his first two game sweep.


 
"We had a really good seesaw battle in the fifth and deciding set tonight," said MacDonald. " That could have gone either way, but I'm really happy with our resiliency in the end. It's a tough gym to get wins in and tough place to play. It's a good healthy rivalry we have with TRU and definitely the fun part of playing our sport."
 
Next weekend's schedule features rare Friday (1:30pm) and Saturday (3:00pm) afternoon matinees for the 'Birds versus Trinity Western. Friday's match will be at War Memorial Gym, while Saturday's contest will be at the Langley Events Centre.