CALGARY – The No. 2-ranked UBC Thunderbirds swept the host Mt. Royal Cougars, 25-20, 25-16 and 25-20, Friday night on Kenyon Court in Calgary. 

The Thunderbirds' strength came from their success in the front row. They had a total of 41 kills throughout the match, while the Cougars only had 21. Game leaders in attacks were Tyler Schmidt for the Cougars with 11, and Irvan Brar for the Thunderbirds with a total of nine. 

UBC improved to 10-1 with the triumph, while MRU dropped to 2-9.

The hosts went up 10-9 in the opening set but the Thunderbirds quickly replied with a 5-1 run. Their strong presence at the net on both offence and defense allowed them to keep the lead for the remainder of the game. Both teams utilized their back row attackers with pipe and C balls. Thunderbirds middle hitter Jordan Deshane led the teams in kills with a total of four. The Cougars were able to keep a tight game up to the technical timeout, as they were only down by two, 16-14. With attack and service errors from the Cougars, the Thunderbirds extended their lead. Struggling to return the spin serves from UBC, Mt. Royal fell short of a win as Thunderbird Danny Aspenlieder served an ace to win the set 25-20.



Rolling on the momentum of the first set win, Thunderbirds remained dominant in the second set. Once again they took an early lead over the Cougars, who found a groove as Tyler Schmidt put out attacks from the right side, leading the teams kills with a total of eight. Despite Schmidt's attacks, the Cougars were unable to close the gap, as the Thunderbirds were up 16-11 at the technical timeout. The Thunderbirds carried the momentum, proving to be more successful in their attacks. They took the set 25-16 to go up two sets to none.

The star of the third set was the Thunderbirds outside hitter Keith West. UBC found success in feeding him the ball, as he switched each attack between a cross-court hit, line ball or a tip, keeping the Cougars on their toes. Continuing the trend of the first two sets, the Thunderbirds gained control early on. A series of missed serves, and on the net calls from the Thunderbirds gave the Cougars a chance to bring themselves back into the game. At the technical timeout, the Thunderbirds led 16-13. The second half of the set was filled with strong rallies from both teams. The Cougars' Schmidt had the block of the game, single-handedly shutting down an outside attack. It was Thunderbirds' West that helped ring in the victory with three successful attacks from the outside, two of which were tips over the block. The Thunderbirds took the set 25-20, and the match 3-0.



"I think we passed and served really well, which allowed our offence to be consistent," said UBC head coach Kerry MacDonald. "There was also a good team dynamic, no one player stood out over the other."

The two teams will face off again tomorrow on Kenyon Court, with the first serve slated for 3 p.m. PT.