EDMONTON – The University of Alberta Golden Bears men's volleyball team earned a sweep of the Manitoba Bisons on Saturday, November 21 thanks to a 3-1 (25-17, 25-23, 23-25 and 25-19) victory at the Saville Community Sports Centre.

With the win the two-time defending national champion Golden Bears improve to 10-0 on the season. The win also keeps the CIS No. 2 ranked Golden Bears atop the Canada West standings, while the Calgary Dinos move into second place with a 9-2 record.

Manitoba, meanwhile, a team that came into Edmonton with an unblemished record, at 8-0, heads back to Winnipeg sporting an 8-2 mark now. The Bisons, ranked No. 3 in CIS, move to third place in the conference standings now as well.

The 3-1 win comes on the heels of Alberta's straight sets win over the Bisons, and represents just the second set Alberta has dropped all season. The Bears were riding a seven straight sets match winning streak prior to tonight as well.

It looked like the match was en route to another straight sets win for Alberta, after the Golden Bears cruised to 25-17 and 25-23 wins in sets number one and two.

The Bisons, however, kept it close in the second set and did again throughout the third set. After going back-and-forth with the Bears in the set, the Bisons earned their first lead of the night at 20-19, and then jumped ahead 22-20.

Although the Bisons earned a 24-21 lead, the Bears managed to claw to within one point, at 24-23, but an attack error by Alberta's Ryley Barnes wrapped up the third set in Manitoba's favour, and made the match score 2-1.

The Golden Bears got back on track in the fourth, jumping out to a 6-3 lead quickly, and then into the technical timeout up 16-13.

Alberta carried that momentum the rest of the way, never yielding the score, and finishing the set 25-19 and taking the match 3-1.

Barnes, a CIS first team all-Canadian last season, led all players on the floor with 23 kills, but three other Golden Bears also earned double-digit kills as Ryan Nickifor (17), John Goranson (13) and Alex McMullin (10) all had strong nights offensively.

The Bears also collected six aces on the night, while Manitoba earned none.

Manitoba was led offensively, once again, by Devren Dear, who recorded 17 kills in the loss, while Adam Dejonckheere banked 14 kills.

The Golden Bears will enjoy a "bye" weekend next week, and return to action over the December 4-5 weekend when they host the Brandon Bobcats at the Saville Community Sports Centre.

Manitoba, meanwhile, will travel to Regina next weekend (Nov. 27-28).