KELOWNA, BC - Despite an impressive comeback run by the MacEwan Griffins men's volleyball team to force five sets and take an early lead on Saturday night, the UBC Okanagan Heat rallied back at home to win the match in five sets 3-2 (25-19, 25-19, 21-25, 23-25, 15-10).
Outside hitter Lars Bornemann fronted the Heat attack with 18 kills, while fellow outside hitters Alex Swiatlowski and Kyle Pankratz followed with 15 and 12 kills respectively. Libero Jeremy Fostvelt had 12 digs.
Griffins outside hitter Damon Holmen led his squad with 17 kills. Zach Brown trailed with 13 kills of his own and also led in digs on the night with 17.
The Heat got off to a solid start on Saturday, amassing 29 kills and hitting .387 as a team in the first two sets. The Griffins would not go down easily, however, keeping the score close and forcing the Heat to earn the sets.
MacEwan changed the script in the third set, clawing their way back into the set after an early deficit (5-1) and going on to win the set over UBC Okanagan, 25-21.
In the fourth the Griffins had their strongest set on the night (25-23), tallying 18 kills to the Heat's 14.
The fifth set even saw MacEwan take an early 4-0 lead over UBC Okanagan, but the Heat took control from then on and rallied back to take the final set (15-10), preventing a MacEwan comeback win.
With the victory UBC Okanagan head into the holiday break at 4-12, while MacEwan remains winless at 0-14.
The Heat will take on the University of Calgary Dinos next on January 9th at UBC's Okanagan campus gymnasium at 8 p.m. PST, while the MacEwan Griffins will host the TRU WolfPack at 2 p.m. MST.
All matches can be watched live at http://www.canadawest.tv.