WINNIPEG -- The Manitoba Bisons made an enormous statement on Friday night at the Duckworth Centre, sweeping the defending Canada West champion Winnipeg Wesmen in their gym (25-16, 25-18, 25-17) to improve to 11-6 on the year. The victory also gave the Herd a 3-1 lead in the Duckworth Challenge. 

Manitoba controlled play from the jump, winning the match with their trademark assertiveness from the service line, balanced attack and lethal blocking. The Herd combined for nine service aces, led by four from setter Sammy Ludwig, who added 31 assists and eight digs.

Karil Dadash Adeh added two aces, one weekend after setting the single-game program record (rally scoring era) for aces in a match, with eight. Jordon Heppner also recorded an ace, upping his career regular season total to 112, 15 shy of tying Luke Herr for the program record. 

Manitoba's service pressure had Winnipeg scrambling, allowing the Bisons to set up their block. Jonah Dueck led the way with three solos, while Manitoba had five solo blocks overall. They are second in Canada West with 170 total blocks on the year.

On the attack, Owen Weekes and Eric Ogaranko both finished in the double digits in kills, while Dadash Adeh and Heppner combined for 12 kills, with Heppner hitting .400 overall. The veteran Bisons middle leads Canada West and is second in the nation with a .456 hitting percentage. 

The victory was Manitoba's first over the Wesmen in four years, and they are undefeated in 2026, at 7-0. 

"Lately our practices have just been looking so solid. We've been clicking. I think all of us had a confidence that we didn't have the last couple of years going into this," said Heppner.

"[Winnipeg] is a great team. I know they're going to come back better tomorrow. But today it just looked like we owned that gym, and the crowd was super quiet. We like to keep it that way."

Manitoba maintained a consistent level of energy throughout the game, something that Heppner admitted the team struggled to find in the first half of the season. They led for the entire match minus 1-0 in the third, staying in system with Ludwig finding the right players at the right time. 

An ace by Heppner followed by a kill from Weekes -- whose cut shots were lethal all game -- put the first set to bed, as Manitoba led by eight throughout. Set two was much closer. The Wesmen kept things level for long stretches, but Manitoba broke the game open with the score tied at 12.

The Herd racked up eight of the next ten points, including four kills from Weekes and back-to-back aces from Ludwig. A solo block by Heppner put Manitoba on set point and Ogaranko closed it out.

"One of the biggest factors [to the team's success] has been the energy that we bring. We had trouble finding that consistent energy in the first half, we'd get super big highs and super low lows. Now we don't burn ourselves out too quickly," said Heppner.

"I think that's been the key."

Manitoba's service pressure helped them secure the game and match in set three.

Tied at 14, Dadash Adeh went on a monster run from the line, helping his team record seven points in a row, including both of his aces, one of which came on a roll shot. He added a kill during the run and a sprawling dig that led to a point from Heppner, and Winnipeg never recovered. 

"We are not taking anything for granted. We have so much left in our tank, and we have such passion. We just want to dominate. We can't take any games easy," said Dadash Adeh. 

"Our togetherness is really strong. We really trust each other. And we have a really strong bench. Everyone is really similar and are high-quality. Playing at such a high level leads to togetherness, and we have that. In the moments when we are down we never have any negative behaviour that's going to hurt each other. We really support each other in every situation."

Both teams play again tomorrow at 5 pm at IGAC as the Duckworth Challenge continues on the Fort Garry campus.