VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds (10-6) were pushed to the limit in a five-set victory over the Mount Royal Cougars (8-6) at War Memorial Gym, doubling U Sport's sixth-ranked squad with 14.5 blocks en route to the weekend sweep. With the two wins, UBC vaults ahead of Mt. Royal for fifth in the division.
 
UBC Head Coach Kerry MacDonald knew the Cougars would be on a tear after losing in straight sets the night before.
 
"It was a battle from the first point to the last point…we knew they would be a better team tonight. It's such a tough conference. Any win you can get, you really cherish because it's such a battle to make the playoffs. [They're] ranked sixth in the nation for a reason, and to get a home sweep against a team like that…we're really happy."
 
Rookie T-Bird libero Tyson Smith echoed his coach's sentiments.
 
"Its all about night two. We come out strong on night one, but we're known as a team that comes out better on night two. We weren't showing that at the beginning, but the boys persevered. There was a lot of energy and a lot of disputes, but I'm glad the boys could come out and battle hard and get some good digs. They were getting some pretty sweet ups but so were we."

Put. Up. The. Block. @ubcmvb locked in a heated battle with @MRUCougars. 'Birds lead 1-0 (25-20) at War Memorial Gym. #GoBirdsGo pic.twitter.com/ZHGVZv1Tbg

— UBC Thunderbirds (@ubctbirds) January 22, 2017

 
Irvan Brar smacked a whopping 23 kills with 8 digs in the victory, while Mat Guidi had a team-high 14 digs and added 7 kills. Setter Byron Keturakis earned 42 assists and 3 aces with 5 digs.
 
Mount Royal was paced by a three-pronged attack of Riley Friesen (12 kills), Tyler Schmidt (13 kills) and Matt Saly (11 kills), while Tanner Greves' playmaking skills were on full display as evident by his 32 assists.
 
The first set was a back-and-forth affair until Cam Fennema broke an 8-8 tie with one of his 9 kills to take the lead and UBC held it through to a 25-20 win off a Cougars service error.


 
Mount Royal was up early in the second, but the Thunderbirds kept pushing back and stayed within four points throughout. Fennema came up big again to draw even at 20-20, and a controversial attack error called on the Cougars briefly gave the 'Birds a set point up 24-23. However, MRU clawed back to win three quick points and snatched the set on a seamless pass and kill play by Greves and Schmidt to finish off UBC, 26-24.
 
UBC came out guns blazing in the fourth with Jordan DeShane firing a kill  and Keturakis serving a change-up that fooled the Cougar back line to go up 2-0. With a three-point edge at 9-6, Brar crushed a cannon from the back row to get the ball rolling again for the T-Bird attackers. Brar later turned away a Cougar kill with a punishing solo block for set point and the 'Birds closed it out 25-17 on a Mount Royal miscommunication.
 
The home side held their ground in the fifth up 7-3 and powered through to a 15-11 victory for the match.      
 
UBC is on the road next weekend in Alberta to meet the 7-9 Calgary Dinos on Friday and Saturday.