BRANDON, Man. – The Manitoba Bisons (7-12) couldn't snap out of a losing streak coming out of their bye week on Friday, losing in straight sets to the resurgent Brandon Bobcats (12-7) at Brandon's Healthy Living Centre (25-23, 25-18, 25-20).

The Bisons have lost five straight matches now dating back to January 11, but still have a shot at the Canada West playoffs.

They are two points back of idle Mount Royal for the eighth and final seed in the conference, and a victory on Saturday would put them in good shape with one more weekend at home on February 14-15.

On Friday, Brandon welcomed back one of their outstanding outside hitters in Seth Friesen, who had missed ten weeks of home action due to injury. With Friesen's return, the Bobcats are beginning to round back into the form that earned them a shot at a national championship in 2019. They looked the part, hitting .248 as a team and out-blocking Manitoba 10.5 to 7.0.

The combination of Robin Baghdady and Elliott Viles had 29 kills for Brandon, while Friesen added eight.

The Bisons struggled on serve all night, meanwhile, hitting just one act to 12 service errors. Kevin Negus led the Herd with seven kills while Owen Schwartz had a match-high eight digs.

The rematch between the provincial rivals goes tonight at 6:45 PM.