VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds blanked the Calgary Dinos 3-0 (25-13, 25-22, 25-15) to sweep the two-game series Saturday night at War Memorial Gym. With the win, the T-Birds have now won four straight and improve to 5-3 on the season while the Dinos drop to 5-3.
Matt Neaves and Michael Dowhaniuk led the way for the T-Birds with a game-high 10 kills each while Gerard Murray chipped in with eight kills of his own. For the Dinos, it was former T-Bird Mac McNicol leading the way with 9 kills as teammate Liam Kuppe put up six kills and one ace.
"I think we received really well," said UBC head coach Mike Hawkins. "Ben Hooker and Zec Johnson did a good job of when and how to use our middle and that opened up the rest of the offense."
The first set was all T-Birds, as the home team raced out to a quick 16-7 advantage at the technical timeout. The 'Birds continued their offensive onslaught as five different T-Birds recorded multiple kills, and cruised to opening set victory 25-13.
Calgary started to find their rhythm in the second set and jumped out to an early 7-3 lead forcing a T-Birds timeout. The break seemed to calm UBC as they regrouped to take a 10-9 lead. The 'Birds were able to add to their lead thanks to a Gerard Murrary kill and block to go up 18-14. The Dinos tried to mount a comeback of their own, but it was a little too late, as the UBC took the set 25-22.
On the back of a couple Michael Dowhaniuk kills in third - paired with some stellar serving - the home team found themselves up 15-8. UBC continued to dominate the net as the Dinos front line was overpowered by the likes of Neaves, Murray and Coltyn Liu, who had five kills to go along with five aces. The 'Birds cruised to the third set victory 25-15.
"I thought our block defense built on what we did last night and we got rewarded for it," Hawkins said of his team's defensive effort on the evening.
UBC will prepare to host the Thompson Rivers WolfPack next weekend beginning Friday with a rare day game and an 11:30 a.m. PT start time at War Memorial Gym. Calgary will travel to Regina to take on the Cougars.
