WINNIPEG – Coming off a tough straight-set loss to the Brandon University Bobcats on Friday night, the University of Manitoba men's volleyball team looked to earn the weekend series split on Saturday night in Winnipeg. The two sides were back on the court inside the Investors Group Athletic Centre with the Bobcats hunting for their third win of the season and the Bisons their fourth. 
 
Unlike the previous night, the Bobcats and Bisons needed all five sets to determine a winner. Manitoba fought from behind to force a fifth and final set after a tight battle in the fourth. Going down to the wire, the Bisons came out on top, taking the final set by a score of 16-14 and the match 3-2 (26-24, 14-25, 20-25, 25-20, 16-14).
 
The win was extra special for Manitoba captain Jack Mandryk who climbed into the Canada West record books. Mandryk's 35 assists in the game put him into the top-20 all time in the conference with 2,451.
 
"It's cool, but it really makes me think of my whole career and all the guys I've played with," Mandryk said. "I've played five years now with this team, and it makes me think of guys like Adam Dejonckheere in my first year. I was setting him. I've played with a lot of great guys."
 
Two big blocks from Matthew Campbell and a powerful cross-court strike from Eric Ogaranko were part of a 7-4 run to put the Bisons on the front foot the begin the match. Despite a strong start from the hosts, Manitoba and Brandon found themselves in 15-15 deadlock midway through the first and again later in the set at 21-21. Campbell put the Bisons ahead at 22-21 following an electric rally between the two sides as they continued to go point-for-point the rest of the set. Campbell's second kill put his Manitoba side on set point before a huge left side block from Ben Carleton gave the Bisons the first set, 26-24. 
 
A few miscues from the Manitoba side of the court put their opposition on a 6-1 run to start the second set and later saw their deficit expand to 15-7. The Bobcats Tom Friesen found his from in the second; posting his first four kills of the game through his teams first 15 points. Led by Friesen, the Brandon offence continued to fire as they claimed the second set 25-14, levelling the match at one set apiece. 
 
Another strong start from the Bobcats put them out in front 10-3 to start the third set. Despite going down by a large margin early, the Bisons battled all the way back to within one of Brandon at 17-16 with Carleton leading the way, tallying four kills. With the Bobcats on set point following a Philipp Lauter cross-court strike, the visitors put the set away by a final score of 25-20. 
 
Down 2-1 in sets, the Bisons looked to force a fifth and deciding set. Carleton put down two kills along with another from Ogaranko to keep Manitoba on pace with the Bobcats at 4-4 to start the fourth. The Bisons took their first lead of the set on Ogaranko's 11^th kill of the game and combined with a Bobcat net violation, the Herd found themselves up 12-10. From there, the hosts never looked back in the set as they took the fourth 25-20 with Carleton and Ogaranko leading the attack.
 
Carleton put down his second service ace of the match, giving Manitoba the early 4-1 advantage in the deciding set. Brandon responded with a 4-1 run of their own to cut the Bison lead back to one at 6-5. Later with the teams tied at 9-9, Carleton saw his attack get blocked, giving Brandon their first lead of the fifth at 10-9. The teams continued to trade points from their on out before a massive block from Ogaranko with the teams tied at 14 set up match point for Manitoba. On the following point, Oraganko sealed the win for his home side with his 14^thkill of the match. 
 
Manitoba will be back at Investors Group Athletic Centre next weekend and play host for a pair of games against the Regina Cougars on November 25-26.