CALGARY – The UBC Thunderbirds fell 3-0 to the fourth-ranked Mt. Royal Cougars in the final Canada West men's volleyball match of 2018 for both schools.

The set scores at Kenyon Court Saturday were 25-19, 25-16 and 25-20, as the hosts completed a weekend sweep after claiming Friday night's contest 3-1.

Jordan Deshane and Michael Dowhaniuk each knocked down seven kills to lead UBC. Deshane also had a team-best five blocks. Setter Ben Hooker had eight assists and seven digs, topping the T-Birds' roster in both statistical categories.

Trent Mounter of MRU led his team in attacks with a total of 14 kills over the three sets, while Tyler Schmidt was also a stand out player with 11 kills and three service aces.

Five early Mounter kills put the Cougars ahead 11-7, a lead the increased to 18-9 on a Schmidt kill. UBC won the next four points, with Deshane providing a pair of kills, and Dowhaniuk earning a solo block, to cut the deficit to 18-13. The T-Birds continued to chip away at the MRU lead closing to 22-19, but after a timeout, the Cougars won the next three points to close out the set.
 

UBC's Coltyn Liu recorded a kill to tie the second set at 5-5, but MRU claimed the next five points to create some distance between the two squads. A pair of T-Bird service aces courtesy of Danny Aspenlieder got his team to 10-8, but another extended run, 8-3, allowed the Cougars to take control of the second set.

In the third, Joel Regehr's service ace put UBC ahead 12-11 but MRU won seven of the next eight points, capped off by a pair of Schmidt aces, to make it 18-13.

The Thunderbirds showed great resilience in turning the momentum, surely making up the different. A 3-0 mini-run on Dowhaniuk and Deshane kills and a Deshane block, got UBC to with a couple of points of MRU (22-20), and forcing a timeout call from the hosts.

But just like in the opening set, the Cougars came out of the break and won the next three points to clinch the set, and the match.

The 2018 portion of the Canada West regular season is now complete for UBC (2-10). The Thunderbirds will have a break before returning to action at the Thompson Rivers tournament, Dec. 28-30, in Kamloops, B.C., where they'll face Calgary, the host team TRU, and SKK of South Korea. UBC will then head west for a pair of non-conference matches against Hawaii (Jan. 5-6).