#4 Bisons stay undefeated in men’s volleyball with home win over Grant MacEwan

Manitoba beats MacEwan in straight sets

Box Score The MacEwan University Griffins handed the University of Manitoba Bisons men's volleyball team their only loss of the preseason earlier this year.

But on Friday, October 30 night at Investors Group Athletic Centre, the Griffins couldn't hold off Manitoba's dominant offense, and the #4 Bisons claimed their fifth conference victory of the season in straight sets (26-24, 25-17, 25-14).

With the win, the Bisons maintain their perfect record and are now 5-0 in the regular season, while the Griffins fall to 1-4 with the loss.

"MacEwan was really pretty good, and I think they had some confidence coming in against us, because they were the only team that's defeated us this year," Bison head coach Garth Pischke said after the game.

Manitoba's Devren Dear led both teams with 14 kills, while Bison co-captain Adam DeJonckheere and Griffins right side Kai Hesthammer each had 11. Luke Herr led the game's defense with eight digs and 38 assists for the home team.

The teams fought back and forth in the evenly matched first set. Manitoba took an early lead, but the Griffins found the court and retaliated to tie the set at 13. The Bisons and Griffins traded points and the lead for the rest of the first, but Manitoba's hitters came out on top. Dear led both sides with seven kills in the set alone, and the Bisons took the hard-fought first 26-24.

The tight game continued in the second until the Bisons hit their stride and broke out with a five-point lead to make it 14-9, and the Griffins never recovered. Midway through the set, MacEwan's Ryan McDonald took a hit to the face, which Pischke said might have been a turning point in the game.

"He left a big hole when they took him out of the game," Pischke said. "They certainly are a better team when he's out there."

Without McDonald on the court for part of the second, the Bisons took the set 25-17.

Manitoba seemed to get even better as the night went on. The Bisons started the third set strong, scoring on four straight rallies before the Griffins made it on the board. The home team stayed in front for the rest of the game, thanks to solid blocks and powerful hits from Dear and DeJonckheere, and the Bisons took the final set 25-14 and the game 3-0.

"We really have to continue to respect our opponents to that we get that hard work out of us," Pischke said. "[MacEwan] is not the biggest team in the country, but their skills are very good. In the first two sets, they weren't making a lot of unforced errors, so we have to respect all our opponents and know that if we have a bad game or don't play our best, we're capable of losing, too."

The Bisons will look to extend their win streak to six games when the teams play their second game of the weekend. The game starts at 3 p.m. on Saturday, October 31 at Investors Group Athletic Centre.

Print Friendly Version