Vancouver, BC – It was a valiant comeback attempt by the No. 9 Calgary Dinos (4-1) but the UBC Thunderbirds (3-0) held on by the skin of their teeth for a thrilling five set home opener victory at War Memorial Gym Friday night.
 
After the 'Birds staked themselves out to a 2-0 lead with back-to-back 25-21 set wins, the Dinos played a pair of very clean frames to force a fifth and deciding set.
 
UBC got out to an early final set lead but just as they showed all night long, the Dinos battled back to tie it at 11. But the 'Birds got some timely serves from rookie Coltyn Liu and clutch kills from Irvan Brar to take the final set 15-13 and clinch a third straight win to start the season.
 
"I thought all of us were maybe a little bit jittery playing at home for the first time but the credit should definitely go to Calgary," said UBC head coach Kerry MacDonald. "Those third, fourth and even the fifth sets, they played really well and made us work hard."

.@ubcmvb wins a 5 set thriller over the @UCDinos in a big home opener victory to improve to 3-0 on the young season

— Jeff Sargeant (@jeffthesarge) November 4, 2017

 
The Thunderbirds appeared to use the home opener crowd and pumped up atmosphere to their advantage early on with the 2-0 set lead. But the Dinos regrouped and came out for the third with renewed energy and at times had the 'Birds on their heels.
 
Liu led all players with nine kills and a service ace while Brar had seven kills and three aces. Byron Keturakis added another three aces along with three blocks and four kills.
 
Alex Bader's seven kills was tops for the Dinos while fourth-year outside hitter Regan Fathers had five kills and nine digs.
 
"We knew we needed to do a better job at the service line and to flip that around I thought they did a great job at the service line especially in those third and fourth sets and broke us down and made us play a lot of out of system volleyball," said MacDonald who wants to see a much cleaner game overall from his squad. "For us that wasn't a great pass or a great serving game and those are things we pride ourselves on so I expect us to be better tomorrow."
 
The T-Birds can make it four straight wins with a victory over the Dinos in Saturday's rematch at War Memorial Gym. First serve is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. PT.