Men's Volleyball (Canada West conference match)
Saturday, January 7th, 2017
War Memorial Gymnasium, Vancouver, BC

VANCOUVER, BC - The UBC Okanagan Heat and the UBC Thunderbirds faced off in the most recent match of the institutional rivalry on Saturday night, as the Vancouver side locked up a weekend sweep with a straight sets victory on their home court in the War Memorial gym. Set scores were 25-23, 25-18, and 25-23.

The third and final set was the most closely contested, as the Heat were almost able to complete a comeback and take back set point from the Thunderbirds. Down 24-18, the UBCO side were able to string together five straight points, two of which came on Devon Cote kills, to pull within a point at 23-24. A Joel Regehr kill, though, his fourth of the match, closed out the match with the final point of the clinching set.

Kills in the match were 35-26 in favour of UBC, who also had the better hitting percentage at .209, while UBCO hit .071 for the night. Blocks were another key for the T-Birds, as they finished with eight and the Heat finished with three. The Heat finished ahead in digs (36-33), but the Thunderbirds bested them in assists (32-23), and service aces (8-5).

Individually, UBC's Mat Guidi led all hitters in the match, putting away 12 kills, and Irvan Brar was next-highest with nine. For the Heat Alex Swiatlowski, Lars Bornemann, and Devon Cote led the way with seven, six, and five kills respectively. Brar also finished with an impressive four service aces in the match, and UBC setter Byron Keturakis had the most assists with 25.

A closely contested first set saw the Heat take their largest lead at 14-10 after a pair of three-point runs. They held the lead until the UBC attack picked up late, scoring three kills in the final five points to close out the frame, with Mat Guidi supplying the final hammer.

The second set saw the home side firmly in command, jumping quickly out to a 4-0 lead. Another four-point run saw the Thunderbirds take a big 9-2 lead, before following that up with five straight to jump ahead 14-3. The Heat were never able to make up the ground, and errors did them in as a three-point run that included two UBCO attack errors and a Joel Regehr kill closed out the set.

The Heat (4-8) will travel to Winnipeg to take on the Wesmen (4-8) for their next matches, on January 13 & 14. The UBC Thunderbirds (8-4) will be on the road as well, playing the University of Manitoba Bisons (11-1) on those same dates.

~ Grayson Leahy // UBC Okanagan