LANGLEY, B.C. – The UBC Thunderbirds won the opening two sets against the No. 1-ranked Trinity Western Spartans, but fell in five on the road in Langley Saturday The set scores were 19-25, 24-26, 25-17, 25-20, 15-7 in favour of TWU. 
 
"I thought we opened well. We executed our game plan in first two sets [and] put good pressure on them. After that...they adapted well. They served a lot better and were a better passing team. They are a team built around being a strong serving and [blocking] team," said UBC head coach Kerry MacDonald.
 
"It's a tough conference, and no weekend is easy. You learn a lot when you play a team of that calibre. It makes you play your best volleyball. It was a good test to see where we stand, and I think it showed we can compete with anyone. There's still lots of areas we need to get better at, so it's back to the grindstone on Monday."
 
Irvan Brar led UBC with 10 kills while Mat Guidi had seven kills. Byron Keturakis had 30 assists and four blocks to go with six kills.
  
Ryan Sclater had a match-high 20 kills and five blocks while Eric Loeppky had 16 kills for the Spartans. Adam Schriemer had 50 assists and 12 digs and Aaron Boettcher had seven blocks.
 
After dropping the first two sets, the Spartans hit .323 over the final three to improve to 8-0.
 
After TWU forced a fifth set, it was all Spartans the rest of the way. With the score tied 4-4, the Spartans went on a 5-1 run the put the fifth set in TWU's hands. Then, with an 11-7 lead, the Spartans tallied the final four points of the night to cap the comeback.
 
TWU held a 5-4 lead in the first set, but a Spartans serving error evened the set and, while it was a back-and-forth set, UBC never trailed the rest of the way. A Keturakis ace made it 17-13 for the T-Birds, who led 21-15 after a Sclater attack error. After hitting .125 in the set, UBC eventually took the opening frame by six points.
 
The second set had a similar feel, with the teams trading points but the T-Birds largely keeping a small lead throughout. Guidi's service ace sent the teams into the technical timeout with UBC ahead 16-12. After several tie scores, including at 24-24, UBC finally finished the set at 26-24 after collecting 11 kills, which marked the T-Birds most productive set of the night. The final two points of the set came from a Guidi kill and a combination block by Keturakis and Joel Regehr on Loeppky.
 


With seniors Scott Plocktis and Leigh Goossen starting the third set, the game took a turn. With the set tied 11-11, TWU scored 10 of the next 13 points to put the Spartans up 21-14. After hitting .333 as team in the set, a Loeppky ace finished the set in the Spartans favour.
 
TWU used a 5-1 run in the fourth set to overturn a deficit to go into the technical timeout ahead 16-14, and never looked back, winning by five to force a decisive final set.
 
With momentum on their side, TWU went on an early 3-0 run that put the Spartans up 7-4. UBC won the next point but the Spartans were able to build on their lead and claim an eight-point win.
 
"It never did get smooth offensively for us, but our guys kept battling," TWU head coach Ben Josephson said. "We had a lot of guys stepping up and playing a lot of important points. It was just really cool that we had so many guys contributing and helping us win a really awesome match against the best team we have played all year. I'm really looking forward to all the years of battling against UBC with (coach) Kerry MacDonald at the helm."
 
TWU is on the road next weekend as they travel to Calgary to play Mount Royal Dec. 2-3. The T-Birds are also on the road next weekend as they play MacEwan Dec. 2-3.

- with files from Jeremy Laurie (UBC Sports Media)