The #2 seed Manitoba Bisons men's volleyball team were defeated by the #7 seed and host Alberta Golden Bears by a 3-1 (18-25, 25-23, 21-25, 16-25) score in their quarter-final match on Friday, March 17 at the 2017 U SPORTS FOG Men's Volleyball Championship at the Saville Community Sports Centre (University of Alberta) in Edmonton.

Manitoba is now relegated to the consolation round, and will play the loser of UBC-UNB Quarter-final match (which was UNB), on Saturday, March 18 at 3:30 p.m. CT.

In the first set, Manitoba was behind from the start and never had the lead as Alberta came out with the crowd momentum (2,000+) to serve hard throughout the set. The BIsons were down early and had timeouts at 8-4, technical timeout was 16-9 Albert and second timeout at 19-11 before finally getting some traction late in the set but lost by seven points. Devren Dear led the Herd with three kills and Dustin Spiring with two kills after one.

In the second set, the Bisons were behind for a majority of the set but won the crucial set with some big points down the stretch. The Bears had early leads of three points and as much as five points at the technical timeout (16-11) before Manitoba started to regain their footing by playing stronger offence and defence with timely service aces and kills by Dear, Spiring and Adam DeJonckheere and finally had their first lead of the match at 23-22 and held on to a 25-23 set win off a big block. Dear had a match-high nine kills at this point of the contest.

In the third set, the Bisons should have taken the momentum off the comeback from the second but the hosts were the ones that controlled from the start and rattled off a 6-0 start and had the 'MO throughout the third. Manitoba was down as many as eight with a 16-8 lead by Alberta at the tech TO but the Herd rallied for four straight points and forced the first timeout by the Bears at 16-12. From there on, it was mostly side out as Manitoba only got as close as three points before losing 25-21. Dear had another four kills in the set for 13 in the match and DeJonckheere had five kills at that point. 

In the fourth set, the Bisons couldn't mount a comeback as after early side outs to start the set, Alberta build a small lead at 8-6, 11-7 and then pushed to 14-9 after a big block on a Bison attempted kill. The set was then in trouble for the visitors as Alberta strong defence forced errant kills out by the Herd for a 16-9 tech timeout lead that they never relinquished. Alberta continued rolling after the timeout with a long kill by the BIsons and service recept error and it was 19-0 with the last timeout taken by Bison head coach Garth Pischke. Manitoba mounted a mini-comeback with a couple kills and a service ace but could not make up the insurmountable advantage built up the Bears and lost 25-16 to end the quarter-final match.

Manitoba's Player of the Match was Devren Dear with a match-high 16 kills and four digs plus 17 points in the loss.

Pischke, 2016-17 U SPORTS Coach of the Year, commented after the match, ""Very disappointed as we knew it was a tough opponent and we didn't perform to the best of our abilities tonight. Alberta played well but we didn't….That was not our best match of the year. We have been more consistent serving and receiving this year and it wasn't there tonight."

"We had the momentum after coming back in the second and then they went up 6-0 right away to start the third. We battled back to 25-21 and fought hard but could never get the six points back and that was the match."

For Manitoba, after Dear final totals, DeJonckheere had eight kills, three digs followed by Spiring with four kills, three digs and Ken Rooney had four kills and three total blocks while Luke Herr added 32 assists, six digs and three kills at the setter position. The Bisons had 26 kill errors and only a .114 hitting percentage as a team with two service aces.

Alberta was led by Ryan Nickifor and Bears' Player of the Match Taylor Arnett, both with 15 kills apiece. Brett Walsh had a match-high 46 assists and Kevin Proudfoot had 11 digs in the win. The home team had .302 hitting percentage and only 18 errors along with nine service aces.

This was the first time the Bisons had qualified for the U SPORTS championship since the 2011-12 season and Manitoba was seeking a record 11th national championship in the program's history. The Herd last won the U SPORTS championship in the 2002-03 season and was a bronze medallist in the previous appearance by Manitoba in 2012 nationals.

Players of the Match:
Devren Dear – Manitoba
Taylor Arnett – Alberta

Stats Leaders
Devren Dear – Manitoba with 16 kills
Ryan Nickifor, Taylor Arnett – Alberta with 15 kills each

Luke Herr – Manitoba with six digs
Kevin Proudfoot – Alberta with 11 digs 

Luke Herr, Ken Rooney, Dustin Spiring – Manitoba with three total blocks
George Hobern, Taylor Arnett – Alberta with six total blocks

Luke Herr – Manitoba with 32 assists
Brett Walsh – Alberta with 46 assists 


BISONS U SPORTS MEN'S VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES: In now 28 CIS MVB Championship appearances since 1978, Manitoba holds a 55-20 record in matches (73.3% win percentage). Manitoba last played Alberta at a U SPORTS championship in 2005 when Alberta won 3-0 in a semifinal match at Laval. The Bisons had met the Bears in Edmonton during the U SPORTS championship in 2003 when the Herd won 3-0 in the gold medal match.