VANCOUVER – For the second time in as many nights, and third time in a row overall, the UBC Thunderbirds (13-1) won without dropping a set as they defeated the MacEwan Griffins (0-14) at home.
 
The story of the day for the 'Birds was their incredible offensive efficiency, as they racked up 51 kills on a .538 hitting percentage. Dawson Pratt led the way in terms of volume with 14 kills on just 19 attack attempts, while Danny Cravioto-Ross was nearly flawless with 10 kills on 11 attempts. Neither recorded an error.
 
"I just thought guys were very patient with their shot decisions, you don't hit .538 by accident," said a happy Mike Hawkins, T-Birds head coach. "But to be honest MacEwan forced us to have to be so efficient offensively. I thought they did a really good job on their first contact of holding some of our serves…but I'm super proud of our guys who came in and did a great job."


 
For the Griffins, Daylan Laszlo bettered his career-high for kills that he'd previously set less than 24 hours previously, recording 13 kills along with a couple of blocks. Seth Birkholz had five kills for the visitors.
 
Pratt got it going early, with four kills within UBC's first 10 points of the first set. Despite going down early, the Griffins rallied as the set went along, and consecutive kills from Laszlo tied up the score at 17 points apiece.
 
The T-Birds went on an 8-3 run to close the set from there, however, with kills from Cravioto-Ross, Alex Emery and Nik Reimer helping close out the frame.
 
UBC was in control from start to finish in the second set, jumping out to a multi-point lead from the jump and not letting the Griffins get to within a couple points at any stage. With a 5-1 burst to open the set and a 4-1 run to end it, the 'Birds entered the third needing just one more set win to take the match.


 
A series of UBC service errors combined with kills from Laszlo and Birkholz helped keep MacEwan in the set for the first half of the third, before a strong offensive run from Alex Borowski and Andres Filip – the latter making his first career Canada West appearance – put things out of reach.
 
Following the weekend sweep, the 'Birds will now head out on the road for their next four matches, beginning next weekend in Calgary.
 
"It's huge for us to get the home win, huge for us to do it in straight sets," added Hawkins. "With how the standings are shaping up it's going to be very tight at the top, so not only do we have to collect W's but we've got to do it as efficiently as possible."
 
The Thunderbirds have just two more home matches before the playoffs begin, coming in the final weekend of the regular season against the UBC Okanagan Heat.
 
That will certainly be a big-time matchup, as the T-Birds and Heat are now tied at the top of the Canada West standings with a 13-1 record. Those matches will happen inside War Memorial Gym on February 13 and 14.