BRANDON, Man. – The Manitoba Bisons outlasted the Brandon Bobcats in a marathon five-set match Friday night by a score of 3-2 (27-25, 25-20, 32-34, 25-11, 15-13).

It was an unconventional match in every sense, as just when it looked like it was over the two teams played their longest set of the season in the third, and that was just the beginning.

Each team had set point three different times in the frame before Brandon took it.

The Bobcats then steamrolled the Bisons in the fourth before jumping to an early lead in the final frame.

The pressure from the serving line that earned the Bisons the first two sets prevailed in the final.

"Honestly it was great to go that fifth set and give it all you could," said Light Uchechukwu. "To finally get that W was nice."

"We just all came together and we knew we were going to go in and give it all we got, it doesn't matter what the outcome was, we just knew we were going to go so hard to get that W."

Uchechukwu had a match-high 19 kills for the Bisons.

Three Bisons finished with 20 or more kills, led by Kearley Abbott and Jordan Hamm who both finished with 22. Laura Hill had 21 to go with 13 attack points.

Fifth-year Brandon product Danielle Larocque saved some of the best of her career for her final weekend on home court, putting up a career-high 15 kills.

Nicole Ashauer led the Bobcats, also putting up a career-high 17 kills while fourth-year setter Jamie Bain had a career high 55 assists.

Neither team is playoff bound, but with the win the Bisons improve to 3-18 in conference play while the Bobcats sit at 4-17.

The two teams meet again Saturday afternoon in Brandon at the BU Healthy Living Centre with first serve coming at 5 p.m.