The Bison volleyball teams host the Thompson Rivers WolfPack on February 3-4 weekend at the Investors Group Athletic Centre (U of Manitoba campus) with senior matches (highlight graduating student-athletes) on Saturday. The men's match starts at 6 p.m. CT and the women's game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT on Friday with a 3 p.m. CT start for men and 4:30 p.m. CT start for women on Saturday. Tickets available at the door of IGAC.
The #1 Bison men's volleyball team (17-1) is on a 16 game conference win streak and in first spot in the Canada West conference standings. The WolfPack (2-14) are in 11th place and won their last match. The two teams met in conference play last season when Manitoba won 3-1 (Jan. 29/16) and lost 3-1 (Jan. 30/16) at TRU in Kamloops, BC.
In conference 2016-17 stats, the Bison men's team is second in hitting percentage at .304, second in blocks at 2.59 per set, third in assists at 11.83 per set, second in conference kills at 12.57, fifth in service aces at 1.34 and seventh in conference digs at 9.26.
Individually, Devren Dear is third in Canada West with 4.07 kills per set while Adam DeJonckheere is sixth at 3.31. Dear is sixth and DeJonckheere is seventh in hitting percentage at .307 and .306. Luke Herr is fourth with 9.95 assists per set and fourth with 0.43 service aces per set. Ken Rooney is seventh with 1.00 blocks/set while Dear (282.0) and DeJonckheere (218.5) are fourth and 11th in conference points.
The Bison women's volleyball team (6-12) and has lost last six conference matches and host sixth place Thompson Rivers (8-8). Manitoba is in tenth place in the Canada West conference standings with Top 7 making playoffs. This is a crucial weekend as Manitoba has only six matches left to play. The two teams met in conference play last season when Manitoba lost twice 3-1 (Jan. 29-30/16) at TRU in Kamloops, BC.
In Canada West stats, the Bisons are eighth in hitting percentage at .158, eighth in conference kills at 11.26 per set, eighth in assists at 10.53 per set, tenth in blocks at 1.89 per set, 12th in service aces at 1.46 per set and first in conference digs/set at 14.69.
Individually, Kearley Abbott is 11th with 2.93 kills per set, 15th with .236 hitting percentage and eighth in points at 246.5. Sydney Booker is fourth at 9.08 assists per set and seventh with 0.45 service aces/set. In digs per set, Cassie Bujan is 12th at 2.88 while Caleigh Dobie at 14th with 2.55. Sarah Klassen is 11th in hitting percentage at .247, sixth place in blocks per set with 0.93. Tori Studler is 18th with 170.0 points and 20th with 2.24 kills/set.
