VANCOUVER – The No. 3 UBC Thunderbirds emerged victorious in a top-10 battle Friday against the sixth-ranked Winnipeg Wesmen, taking the contest in 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-21, 25-23) at the Duckworth Centre in Winnipeg.
 
UBC improves to 13-2. A balanced attack saw three Thunderbirds in double digits in kills. Irvan Brar led the way with a match-high 15 kills. Jordan Deshane and Fynn McCarthy had 12 apiece. Setter Byron Keturakis had 50 assists and four service aces.
 
Daniel Thiessen led the Wesmen (10-5) with 10 kills, and Adrian Dyck had seven kills and a team-high eight digs.
 
UBC hit .313 for the match, while Winnipeg went for .176.



The two teams were tied on 12 different occasions in the fourth set, with the last coming at 23-23. Then Keturakis set up kills by Deshane and McCarthy to clinch the match.

The Thunderbirds claimed the early lead and were up 16-11 at the technical timeout. While the Wesmen eventually closed to 17-15, they were never able to overtake the road team, falling by four points.

UBC led 20-19 in the second set, but the home side won six of the next eight points to even the match at a set apiece.

A Deshane kill made it 13-9 in favour of the T-Birds in the opening set. Then the Wesmen won the next five points to go ahead. UBC then used a 4-0 surge to lead 20-16. A kill by Winnipeg's Dyck got his team within a couple of points. T-Birds' head coach Kerry MacDonald called a timeout, and his team was able to regroup to earn the next couple of points on a kill from Brar, and an ace from Keturakis.

The two teams will conclude their weekend doubleheader Saturday with the first serve scheduled for 3 p.m. PT.