Box Score VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds kept pace near the top of the Canada West standings with a sweep of the Brandon Bobcats this weekend, capped off with Saturday's 3-0 win (28-26, 25-22, 25-17) at War Memorial Gym behind another big day from Ben Chow.

Sets one and two were about as close as possible, as they were tied a total of 29 times and featured a combined 14 lead changes, but in both cases the T-Birds were able to maintain their composure in the pressure spots while the Bobcats faltered. Set one ended on three straight Brandon errors, and set two ended on back-to-back errors.
 
That wasn't indicative of the overall match though, as both teams looked sharp and were ready to fight for every point. But in the end, the T-Birds' aggressive outside hitters just executed when they needed to and got the best of the battle, helping them edge the visitors in the first two sets before they pulled away in the third.
 
Chow, who sat out last weekend with an injury and only returned to the court Friday morning before game one, set the pace with 17 kills on .467 hitting.
 
Quentin Schmidt also had a big night with 11 kills on the outside. Brandon's top outside hitter, Sam Tuivai, had 16 kills.
 
Milan Nikic had a great all-around match for the second night in a row, coming up with kills on both his attack attempts to go with 34 assists and a great job at the service line that yielded two aces. He was also a factor in the blocking game for UBC and ended up with two block assists.
 
Libero Ian Perry quietly made a big difference as he often does, leading all players with 15 digs to make life difficult for the Brandon attackers in addition to his role as floor general for the 'Birds.
 
Roy Ching had 35 assists and a couple big blocks for the Bobcats. Sebastien Steigmeier had nine kills and two blocks.
 
The Bobcats fall to 7-9, and now they look forward to a crucial home-and-home with the Winnipeg Wesmen next week, who are also fighting for a playoff spot at 7-9. UBC improves to 11-5, tied for second in the Canada West standings with Alberta and Thompson Rivers, and they will square off against Mount Royal on the road next week, as they embark on a tough stretch to finish the season against three teams all still in the thick of the playoff race.
 
The next home games for UBC are also their last of the regular season, scheduled for January 31 and February 1 against Saskatchewan.