BRANDON – The Brandon University men's volleyball team swept the UBC Thunderbirds on Saturday night in their regular season finale to set the stage for a playoff rematch. With the 'Birds already having clinched a home playoff quarterfinal series, UBC coach Kerry MacDonald went to his reserves early and often. 

UBC's Matt Santema had a match-high 12 kills for the sixth-ranked T-Birds, who will finish the season with a record of 16-8. The 16 wins are three more than 2015-16, when the 'Birds finished on the outside looking in of the Canada West playoff picture.

UBC rookies Nick Mickelberry and Danny Aspenlieder both saw considerable time and contributed nine and six kills respectively. 


 
The opening set was going down to the wire before the Bobcats caught fire. An 8-1 run turned a 17-16 lead into a 25-17 Brandon victory.
 
The Bobcats built more momentum in the early stages of the second thanks to a 6-1 run to push their lead to 9-4. BU served up another 6-1 run to strengthen their advantage to 17-11. The two sides traded points the rest of the way, but BU arrived at the finish line first.
 
Brandon showed no signs of slowing down in the third. The Bobcats outscored the T-Birds 7-2 to sit firmly in the drivers seat at 13-5. BU's 5-0 run down the stretch helped secure the win on their senior's night where Roy Ching and Jeremy Davies were recognized.
 
Matt Powell was the top performer for the seventh-ranked Bobcats with 10 kills as Brandon completed the regular season with a record of 14-and-10.
 
The T-Birds and Bobcats finished fourth and fifth in the conference and will meet again in short order with the stakes even higher. BU travels to Vancouver this coming weekend to take on UBC in a best-of-three quarter-final series.