Home cooking continues for the Bisons men's volleyball this weekend as they welcome the Calgary Dinos (2-0) to IGAC for a Thursday and Saturday tilt. Both games are at 7:45 pm.
Manitoba remains in the friendly confines of IGAC for the third week in a row, looking to pick up their first win of the season after being swept by UBC and UBCO to begin the year. That's not to say the Herd haven't been right in the fight. They won four sets against their west coast opponents, with nine others going into the 20s. Statistically, Manitoba is at or near the top of many key categories.
It's been a balanced showing for a Bisons unit that didn't graduate anyone from last year's roster. Seven different hitters have at least ten kills, led by 44 from right side
Karil Dadash Adeh, 34 from left side
Eric Ogaranko and 30 from left and right side
Owen Weekes. Additionally, captain
Spencer Grahame is rising up the career record book, entering play with 667 career kills, while Ogaranko has 507 as a Bison.
Like it always has, the Herd's presence at the net has been key. Manitoba enters play with 35 total blocks, second in Canada West. Veteran middles
Jonah Dueck and
Jordon Heppner, along with Weekes have combined for 41, paced by Dueck's 19, which is tied for first in the conference. Dueck and Heppner as duo have combined for 429 blocks in their career at Manitoba, consistently operating at or near the top of the country in the stat.
Additionally, libero
Josh Jehle leads Canada West in digs, with 38 and the Bisons are first in overall digs, at 150 while Manitoba's 22 service aces are tied for second in CanWest.
Calgary -- who split a pair of games against Manitoba last season -- graduated four key starters, three of whom are now playing pro, but the next crop of stars have shown out early in the campaign.
Cole Czepuryk, a member of the Canada West All-Rookie Team a year ago, is second in Canada West with 4.43 kills per set, while fellow sophomore Sam Kay out of Australia has 26 kills (just five behind Czepuryk), and senior Erik Godwin is averaging 1.86 kills per set.
