Box Score Written by: John Gaudes

WINNIPEG  - With the #6-ranked Saskatchewan Huskies in town, the young Manitoba Bisons men's volleyball team were looking to make a statement against a ranked opponent on their home floor, playing at the Investors Group Athletic Centre on Friday, October 8.

In trying to do so, they put up a darn good fight - but were unable to stop the Huskies from playing their brand of volleyball down the stretch of a long match, as Saskatchewan won in five sets (24-26, 25-21, 21-25, 25-21, 15-12). The win is Saskatchewan's first on the year, as they move to 1-4. Manitoba falls to the same record with the loss.

Saskatchewan got an impressive match from left side Paul Thomson, who led his team with 16 kills, while also digging out 13 balls.  Stuffing the stat line as well was fellow left side Bryan Fraser, who had 13 kills and 10 kills. The Huskies also won the battle of the blocks, which turned out to be key in the match - 11.5 to Manitoba's 5.

Manitoba was led by outside hitter Devren Dear, who had 17 kills to lead all players. Dear also added 12 digs.

The first set saw a messy start on both sides, as both teams struggled with service errors throughout. In what would be the closest set, Manitoba turned it around on a pivotal Huskies mistake, where middle Tyler Epp sent a serve long and the Bisons turned around and got a massive outside kill from freshman Adam DeJonckheere to take the set.

In the second, the Huskies turned the match with scrambling defence and powerful blocks to jump out and take command. Fraser and Epp were busy from all angles, but that set win did not turn into momentum in the third. Manitoba's block was key in getting turning the tides back in their favour, as middle Kenny Rooney got up multiple times to solo block the Huskies attack. DeJonckheere and Dear continued solid outside play to get the Bisons up two sets to one.

After that, though, the Huskies started to limit their mistakes. With stronger service games came bigger leads, and though the Bisons fought to the finish of the fourth and fifth sets, it was Manitoba making crucial mistakes in crunch moments, not Saskatchewan. The Huskies were able to win five of six points to close the fourth, and four of six to close the fifth, to avoid the upset loss.

The Bisons men's volleyball team finish their weekend back-to-back against the Saskatchewan Huskies on Saturday, November 9th. First serve is at 7 p.m. CST.