WINNIPEG - The University of Manitoba Bisons (3-3) flipped the script after a straight-sets loss, moving back to .500 with a 3-1 win over the University of Alberta Golden Bears (4-2), 25-16, 27-25, 21-25, 25-18.
Manitoba carried the momentum through the first set, as the Golden Bears were unable to string two service points together through the entire set. A six-point stretch to move the needle from 12-7 to 18-7 put Alberta in a hole they would not be able to recover from. The Bisons would take advantage of blocking and multiple service errors to take the first set 25-16.
Set number two had both teams playing well as they would combine for 25 kills on 46 attempts with neither team taking more than a one-point lead until the Golden Bears' Owen Harris would score an ace to take a 23-21 lead. Following a Manitoba timeout, the Bisons would tie the game back up at 23. Both teams would trade timeouts as Manitoba would pull out to a 25-24 lead, eventually finishing the set 27-25 to take a 2-0 lead off a .450 hitting percentage in the set.
More back-and-forth play continued through the third, until Manitoba served at 19-19. With Owen Harris serving for the Golden Bears, an ace, a Manitoba error and a pair of Tyson DeZutter kills put the Bisons in a 24-19 hole. A
Jordon Heppner kill and
Kai Boyko ace wouldn't be enough to come back for the sweep, as Trent Cherewaty would get Alberta on the board with a set-finishing kill, 25-21, to send the match to a fourth set.
The Bisons would jump out to a 7-2 lead early in the fourth before the Golden Bears would take seven of the next 10 to close the gap to 10-9 and force the Herd to take a timeout. Manitoba would respond, taking six of the next nine points for a 16-12 lead, but the visitors would respond with the next three points, closing the gap back to 16-15, leading to the Bisons' second timeout of the set. They would respond emphatically, taking nine of the final 12 points, as
Kai Boyko would finish the match up with an emphatic kill on match point, 25-18 for the 3-1 win.
Tyson DeZutter led the Golden Bears with a .364 attack percentage, 12 kills on 22 attempts, while Luke Weddell picked up 37 assists. For the Bisons,
Wizdom Smith had a monster 20 points with 17 kills on 27 attempts for a .519 attack percentage, while
Sammy Ludwig had 32 assists to go with a trio of solo blocks.
The Bisons have wrapped up their first half home schedule, but head out on the road to take on the MacEwan Griffins (2-6) in Edmonton next weekend, Friday at 6:00 MBT and Saturday at 4:00 MBT. Both games are available on
CanadaWest.tv.
