Cara Kovacs had 17 kills and 11 digs, and the T-Birds hit .195 for the match in posting a 3-1 (25-22, 21-25, 25-20, 25-17) victory in the first match of the four-team round-robin pool at the Saville Centre.
The Thunderbirds, the pool’s 2-seed who finished the conference season 9-7, also got 12 kills from Claire Cossarini.
Winnipeg was led by Emma Parker’s 12 kills and 24 digs, while Ashleigh Laube had a career-high seven aces.
UBC libero Jess Goodridge had a team-high 20 digs, while her counterpart on Winnipeg, Taylor Cangemi, had 11.
The Wesmen were held to .043 attacking on the day.
UBC will face Regina in its next match Friday at 12:00 p.m. PT while the Wesmen take on host Alberta.
Alberta and Regina were to play later Thursday night.