WVB: Cougars beat Bisons in four, despite a career-high 21 kills from Raya Surinx.

The Manitoba Bisons came out swinging in their Saturday night rematch against MRU, pushing tonight to four sets before the Cougars took home a 3-1 win, 25-23, 25-20, 19-25, 25-22.

Raya Surinx had a night to remember, recording a career-high 21 kills and .459 hitting percentage in the loss. Manitoba enters the winter break at 6-6. 

Mount Royal had an aggressive start, going on a 6-0 run, before forcing the visitors to call an early timeout. 

The Bisons seemed uneasy on their feet and struggled to find a rhythm early on against a determined Cougars offense. MRU had beautiful ball placement, sending all attacks just out of reach of Manitoba and sending them diving. 

The score was 13-3 for MRU before Manitoba was forced into a second time out. 

Surinx was the turning point for Manitoba in the first set, putting up three kills consecutively to bring the Bisons up to eight against Mount Royals 16. 

Surinx, combined with Brenna Bedosky and Ella Gray, found a way to pierce through the Cougars blockers. Bedosky and Gray combined for 18 of the team’s total 54 kills, while Surinx finished the night with 21. 

The visitors had an unbelievable comeback, from a nine point deficit to one going into the last five points of the set. MRU eventually took what became an incredibly tight set, 25-23.

Madison Marshall was the one to watch for the home team this weekend, putting down 15 kills tonight after her 16 yesterday. Marshall also had nine digs to complete the night and coin her the MRU player of the game.

It looked as though the visitors would take the set until the last few points when Mount Royal seemed unstoppable, going on a four point run to take the set 25-20. 

The Bisons came alive in the third set with Eve Catojo and Bedosky, along with Light Uchechukwu. Manitoba was able to claim the third set due to the combined effort of these three women, 25-19.

Both squads left everything on the court in the fourth and final set of the game.

Ella Lawrence, Mya Morgan and Emma Boyd were all instrumental in the fourth, each adding kills to the board and helping create distance between MAN and MRU. 

The 25th and final point for the set was put down by Morgan for Mount Royal, sealing the second 3-1 win of the weekend for the Cougars.