MVB: Heat survive record-breaking Thiessen effort to stay alive

WINNIPEG - It will go down as one of the greatest individual performances in Winnipeg Wesmen history.

Unfortunately, for the Wesmen men's volleyball team, it will also go down as a loss.

Cameron Vanderveen had 13 kills and 10 digs and the UBC-Okanagan Heat came out on the right end of their second five-setter in two days, defeating the Wesmen 3-2 (25-22, 24-26, 21-25, 25-23, 15-13) on Day 2 of Pool C play in the Canada West conference men's volleyball tournament.

The Wesmen loss spoiled a record-breaking night for Winnipeg right side Daniel Thiessen. The fifth-year Thiessen set the Wesmen program record for kills in a playoff match (33) and tied the program record for digs in a playoff match (21). His kills total was just two shy of the Canada West record for winners in a match.

Nigel Nielsen added 12 kills for the Wesmen (1-1), who will likely have to beat the Calgary Dinos on Saturday in order to secure one of the two berths into the second weekend of the post-season.

Due to postponements in the Canada West conference schedule, the Heat were playing their eighth match in the past 14 days. And after losing in a long five sets Friday night in the opener against Calgary, the Heat were able to find something extra in a must-win situation.

Max Heppell also had 13 kills for UBCO (1-1) and Noah Carlson added 12.

Eli Risso had a team-high 17 digs for the Heat, who will close the tournament against Manitoba Saturday with a chance at one of the top two spots still in play.

The Wesmen hit .253 on the night while the Heat attacked at a .207 rate.