Vancouver – The UBC Thunderbirds overpowered the Winnipeg Wesmen with a straight sets victory (25-18, 25-18, 25-14) to take game one of their best-of-three quarter-final playoff series Thursday evening at War Memorial Gym.
 
Leading the way for the T-Birds was Coltyn Liu who was all over the court in recording a game-high 16 kills and three service aces. Matt Neaves added nine kills and two digs, while Gerard Murray chipped in with six kills to go along with an ace and a block. Daniel Thiessen set the pace for the Wesmen with a team-high 10 kills, three digs and one block while Ethan Duncan registered three kills, one dig and two block assists.
 
"I'm very pleased with the total team effort," said UBC assistant coach Ian Perry post game. "Really all the guys were firing tonight and we made a really, really great team look human tonight so kudos to all the player who played really well as a group. Also, credit to Coltyn Liu who had a special night from the service line and also from the back row, he works so hard and puts so much time and effort into his craft so I'm really happy for him."
 

 MVB | @ubcmvb defeats @Wesmenathletics in straight sets 3-0(25-18, 25-18, 25-14) in game 1 of their best-of-three @CanadaWest quarter-final series. The teams meet again Friday at 7pm at War Memorial Gym. #GoBirdsGo pic.twitter.com/CmUgjs5Fw5

— UBC Thunderbirds / @UBCTBirds (@ubctbirds) February 21, 2020

Meanwhile on the other side, Wesmen head coach Larry McKay admitted his team needs to be sharper going forward.
 
"They were better than us in every aspect. They were just superior and we weren't able to raise our skill level to match theirs and over the course of each set that was pretty obvious. I don't think it was rocket science, I think we can play better, we're going to have to play better just to be able to match up with that team.
 
"Every one of those basic skills," added McKay. "If we can execute those just a little bit better than we did tonight. Although UBC's got something to do with that, they're pretty good, they can make your basic skills look not so good with how well they execute."


 
The opening set brought with it an appropriate playoff intensity as both teams traded early points leading to an emphatic Ben Hooker rejection at the net to give UBC a 9-7 advantage but the Wesmen responded with a big response block of their own from Keegan Teetaert to pull within 9-8. Moving forward a surprise kill from Hooker and a long serve from Winnipeg gave the hosts a 13-9 lead while forcing the visitors to call their first timeout. Out of the break Liam Kristjanson answered with a back row kill to trail 13-10 before a Hooker service ace and one of Neaves' four Kills in the period put UBC up 16-10 at the technical timeout. Another one of Liu's demonstrative set-high six kills put the 'Birds up 22-16 before the Wesmen sent it long to set up match point at 24-18. That's when Murray went sky high for the deciding kill to secure the 25-18 victory for the T-Birds who enjoyed a .355 hitting percentage compared to .107 for Winnipeg.
 

 MVB | @ubcmvb wins the 1st set (25-18), to take a 1-0 lead over @Wesmenathletics here at War Memorial Gym. #GoBirdsGo pic.twitter.com/7UgYSjtloy

— UBC Thunderbirds / @UBCTBirds (@ubctbirds) February 21, 2020

 
The second frame was highlighted by a lengthy rally that saw players sprawling on both sides of the court to make plays before Liu finished it off with an athletic back row kill to put UBC up 4-2. Minutes later Thiessen responded for Winnipeg with impressive back-to-back kills, part of his team high five in the set to even things 5-5 before the 'Birds would go on a mini run capped off by a first time kill from Hooker to go up 8-5 and leading to a Wesmen timeout. Moving on it was Liu who would be heard from again with back-to-back service aces to go ahead 16-11 ahead of counting another of his set high six kills to extend the lead to 22-17. A second ace from Hooker, the T-Birds fifth of the evening would seal the 25-18 second set win.


 
UBC kept their momentum going into the third set and it was a Jordan Deshane dump at the net that doubled the lead at 8-4 to cause the first of two early Wesmen timeouts. Liu added a back row kill, one of his four in the set and Neaves also engaged from the back row off the block to help the T-Birds take a 16-7 advantage into the technical timeout. For the Wesmen it was Thiessen who continued to set the tone in recording three more kills while Eric Dornez added an ace in trailing 24-14 at match point. In the end it was Neaves' fifth kill of the frame that was the final dagger in UBC earning 25-14 victory and 3-0 sweep in game one of their quarter-final series.
 
The teams will meet again for game two of the best-of-three quarter-final series Friday night at War Memorial Gym with a 7 p.m. PT start time.