February 15 - The third-ranked UBC men’s volleyball team offered up a well-rounded performance in their Canada West playoff opener Thursday night, making quick work of sixth-ranked Manitoba, 25-23, 25-18 and 25-15 at War Memorial Gym.

UBC (13-5 CW, 1-0 playoffs) can wrap up the series Saturday at 1 p.m., while the Bisons will try to bounce back and extend it to a third and deciding match on Sunday afternoon.

A series victory for UBC would mean not only a trip to the Canada West Final Four in Edmonton but also the school’s first berth into the CIS championship tournament since 1989.

Setter Jared Krause spread the ball around nicely for UBC on Thursday and the T-Birds received contributions from a variety of sources. Christoph Eichbaum led the charge with 11 kills with just one error, while Matt LeBourdais and Andrew Bonner each chipped in seven, Kyle Duperron added five and Colin Bell stepped up with four.

The blocking effort was an exercise in teamwork, too, with Krause, LeBourdais, Eichbaum and Duperron all notching at least four stuffs at the net. LeBourdais also tallied a pair of aces, hit for .778 and picked up a dig with a soccer save on the opening play of the match.

“That was key for us,” head coach Richard Schick said of his team’s balance. “It’s a cliché, but you need everybody on the team firing and tonight we had that for the most part.”

Manitoba’s veterans showed some fight in the first set, clawing back from 5-0 down to eventually take a 21-20 lead on a Matt Balchin kill. But it was UBC taking command in the clutch as hard kills from Bonner and a pair from Eichbaum in the final five points capped the frame 25-23.

The T-Birds gained momentum as the match progressed, opening up the second set with a 7-1 edge and rolling to a 25-18 win in a frame which saw the visitors held to .069 on the attack. Duperron had a block and two kills in the final seven points to seal a 2-0 advantage.

In the third, the teams were close up to 6-5 for UBC, but a pair of timely kills from Bell, who saw increased action with Mike Proudfoot on the mend, started a 12-4 run that put the set out of reach. The T-Birds hit .500 in the final frame and closed out the match 25-15.

The T-Birds, who are now 12-2 overall at War Gym this season, hit for .409 as a team on the night and outblocked the Bisons 10.5 to 6.5.

“They’re going to make some adjustments,” Schick said of Manitoba, “but I’m more concerned about our side and we really followed the game plan tonight. The focus from start to finish was there and it was neat to see. We’re going to have to do the same thing Saturday and we’re looking forward to playing better each night.”

Toon van Lankvelt paced the visitors with a match-high 14 kills but hit for just .292. Balchin contributed seven and Jeff Zylstra six on six attempts. Kyle Joslin led all players with 10 digs in the match.

Manitoba committed 20 attacking errors and 13 service errors compared to 10 and eight for UBC. The Bisons, who have qualified for 25 of the last 26 national championship tournaments and won bronze the last two seasons, are now on the verge of elimination.

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