WINNIPEG – The Manitoba Bisons and UBC Okanagan Heat went the distance in their season opener on Friday afternoon at IGAC, thrilling a passionate crowd with a marathon five setter. The Heat fought back from 2-1 down, and 14-13 in the fifth, taking the match 3-2 (33-31, 21-25, 16-25, 25-23, 16-14).
 
Zach van Geel had 39 assists for UBCO, while Seba Manuel and Xander van Driel combined for 28 kills. Ashton South led all players with eight blocks.
 
The Herd got a combined 48 kills from Owen Weekes, Karil Dadash Adeh and Eric Ogaranko, while Alex Witt had 51 assists. As a team, Manitoba had nice aces.
 
The first set was tied 23 times in a back-and-forth battle that went to extras. Manitoba had set point twice at 26-25 and 27-26, but the Heat stayed in the fight with a one-handed kill from South and a Manuel kill that painted the back corner.
 
On the other end, the Herd fought off four set points, with Weekes, Dadash Adeh and Ogaranko all blasting kills to keep the set going. But a balanced UBCO attack made the difference, as they took the first 33-31 with kills in succession from Thys Weststrate and van Driel.
 
Service pressure helped tell the stories of sets two and three, with the hosts taking both sets. Manitoba combined for seven aces overall, with Weekes, Jordon Heppner, Jonah Dueck and Witt all putting down two.
 
The Bisons hit .296 in the second and .391 in the third, with their play at the line leading to a variety of quality chances in system. Weekes and Dadash Adeh combined for 25 kills, with Dadash Adeh putting down the winner in both sets.
 
Dadash Adeh's set three winner was set up beautifully by Ogaranko, who made a diving one-handed dig to kill a long rally going, which Dadash Adeh ended.
 
The Heat had 18 digs after three, and hit .357 in the second set, but they were unable to match Manitoba's service pressure, with just two aces. Manuel was the standout, recording kills on five of the Heat's first ten points in set two. He had 12 kills overall ending the fourth.
 
"The first set, I think we had seven, eight serving errors which was more than usual. That cost us the first set which was close. After we cleaned up our passing and our serving we played pretty well in the second and third set," said Bisons head coach Arnd 'Lupo' Ludwig.
 
"Things will not always go our way. We fought back in set two better than we had last year. Last year I don't know if we would have done that. In that way, we definitely took a step forward."
 
The Heat commanded momentum for most of the fourth set, jumping out to a five-point lead multiple times while hitting .280. Overall, the two sides combined for just eight errors in an efficient showing.
 
Manitoba battled back from 21-18 down, cutting UBCO's lead to one at 23-22 and 24-23 – the latter off a rocket that ricocheted off a double block from Dadash Adeh – but UBCO had the response. Van Driel went hard off hands to make it 24-22, and an error gave the visitors the set two points later.
 
The Heat took a 6-3 lead in the fifth, including a powerful double block from South and Mika Feilberg, but Manitoba responded. Dadash Adeh had three kills in quick succession, and a Ogaranko and Dueck block gave the Bisons match point, but they were unable to close.
 
Three straight errors gave UBCO the game, as they handled a few tough Bisons serves and forced difficult angles.
 
"We made errors at not the smartest times," said Ludwig.
 
"We were a little bit unlucky, but in the end I don't think we did enough to win the game. There were just too many errors on our side.
 
Both teams play again tomorrow at 6 pm.