Bisons advance to Final Four in men's volleyball

#3 Manitoba sweeps #10 Mount Royal 2-0 in conference quarter-finals at home; will play at Alberta for chance to reach CIS nationals

Box Score WINNIPEG – The #3 University of Manitoba Bison men's volleyball team is heading to the Final Four after sweeping the #10 Mount Royal University Cougars 3-0 in quarter-final action in game two at Investors Group Athletic Centre on Friday, February 26 night.

The Bisons took the best-of-three conference series 2-0 after a 3-1 win in front of a large home crowd on Thursday night to earn a place in a Canada West semifinal next weekend.

Bison head coach Garth Pischke said he was impressed with the athleticism and willpower he saw on both sides of the net throughout the series.

"I think it was just fun to be a part of," he said after Friday's win.

"We were very relaxed going into the game, [but] basically our outsides beat their outsides, and that's how we won the match."

Mount Royal's Jordan Parkin led both teams with 14 kills, while Manitoba's Devren Dear had 11.

Like Thursday's contest, Game 2 of the series started and stayed close, but the Cougars quickly broke away with a lead. Strong blocks, including one from Lachlan Polson, Tanner Greves and Parkin helped give Mount Royal a 10-6 advantage. The Bisons fought back, and Dear added a pair of kills after the technical timeout to keep Manitoba in the game. The home side built off this momentum and tied the set at 22 on a Ken Rooney kill, winning the first 26-24 a few rallies later.

The tight game continued in the second. Neither team held more than a two-point advantage until late in the set, when a massive block from Dear put the Bisons up 18-15. But that lead was short-lived. Manitoba immediately lost the serve and surrendered three of the next four rallies, but the Bison attackers retaliated. Adam DeJonckheere, Scott Vercaigne, Josh Crellin and Luke Herr combined for five kills in the final rallies to help the Bisons take the second 25-20.

Both teams put up strong attacks but struggled to serve in the lines early in the third set. The Bisons and Cougars racked up five service errors before the technical timeout, but both sides seemed to settle down after the break. DeJonckheere led the dominant Bison offense with six kills in the set alone, and after a Mount Royal attack error, Manitoba took the set 25-20, the game 3-0 and the series 2-0 to advance to the Final Four.

"We know what the calibre is like," Pischke said. "Some of the teams that didn't even make our top seven are phenomenal teams, and so it's going to be tough, but I like our attitude. I like our never-say-die attitude. We were down in a couple of those sets, and we came back, and we never gave up."

Moving forward, he said he wants the Bisons to focus on passing up the middle.

"We have such good middle players, so we need to get them the ball, because nobody can stop those two guys. So if we get the ball, we can run our middle, and our whole game is so much better."

The Bisons will be the second seed and will travel on the road as the #1 University of Alberta host the Final Four next week (March 4-5). Manitoba will play in a Canada West semi-final match on Friday, March 4.

Set scores:
Manitoba: 26-25-25=3
Mount Royal: 24-20-20=0

Kill leaders
Manitoba: Devren Dear (11), Adam DeJonckheere (10) and Josh Crellin (7)
Mount Royal: Jordan Parkin (14), Tyler Schmidt (9) and three players (5)

Dig leaders
Manitoba: Caleb Hickok (7), Devren Dear (5) and three players (4)
Mount Royal: Tanner Greves (7), two players (6) and Andrew McWilliam (4)

Assist leaders
Manitoba: Luke Herr (35) and Caleb Hickok (1)
Mount Royal: Tanner Greves (34), Samuel Brisbane (2) and three players (1)

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