WINNIPEG – The #2 University of Manitoba Bisons defeated the fourth seeded and #6 UBC Thunderbirds 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-17) to open the Canada West Men's Volleyball Final Four at the Investors Group Athletic Centre on Friday, March 10 in front of 2,200 fans at the Investors Group Athletic Centre.
 
Devren Dear was named Manitoba's player of the game, he led the match with 13 kills and came up with eight digs; Evan Jackson was also huge for the Herd with 12 kills in the match. Irvan Brar led the 'Birds with seven kills in the match, and Danny Aspenlieder was named UBC's player of the game.
 
"We actually played decent side-out volleyball for the majority of the first two sets," said UBC head coach Kerry MacDonald. "But we gave up a couple of runs at inopportune times." 


 
The game opened with four straight service errors, before the Bisons scored a point on a UBC attacking error. With the visitors up 8-7, Manitoba strung together three straight points, which included a kill from Evan Jackson. The home team would string another three points together with kills slammed down by Adam DeJonckheere and Devren Dear to take a 15-10 lead. The Bisons didn't let the Thunderbirds get anything going and took the set 25-22 capped off with another DeJonckheere kill.

Another close set, @ubcmvb lose the 2nd set 22-25 to @umbisons. Brar & Guidi both with 4 kills. Let's get the rally caps on! #comebacktime pic.twitter.com/G2P6bnaRRQ

— UBC Thunderbirds (@ubctbirds) March 11, 2017

 
UBC led 7-6 early on in the second set, but Manitoba scored four unanswered points to take a 10-7 lead. The Bisons rolled into the technical timeout with a commanding 16-8 lead. The T-Birds answered with four straight points later on, connecting on three kills to cut the lead down to 17-13. UBC tried to claw back into the set, but Manitoba took it 25-22. Manitoba spiked down 15 kills in the set compared to UBC's eight. UBC continued to dominate at the service line with five aces in the set, two of which came courtesy of Byron Keturakis.


 
The Bisons controlled the final set and won it by a score of 25-17.
 
"We're just trying to move forward. Our group has faced a lot of adversity this season," said MacDonald. "We're just trying to move forward and respond. It's a unique opportunity to come back tomorrow from a bad loss and have another game against one of the country's top teams."
 
UBC will play for the Canada West bronze medal tomorrow at 4 p.m. PT. Manitoba will play in the Canada West Finals tomorrow night, at 6 p.m. PT.