Bears dig deep, set-up Game 3 showdown with 3-2 victory over Bisons

EDMONTON – Third-year Isaac Heslinga had a game-high 26 kills, including five in the fifth set, to help the Golden Bears dig deep for a 3-2 (25-21, 25-18, 21-25, 17-25, 15-7) Game 2 victory at the Saville Centre Saturday night. It was the second time in as many nights that the teams went to a fifth and deciding set, setting up an exciting winner-take-all Game 3 tomorrow evening.

Bears head coach Brock Davidiuk was impressed with what he saw out of Alberta’s #17. “Isaac just went off [in the fifth] and was the player we needed him to be and that he can be and that I really liked.”

It has been a remarkable series so far, with both games starting with a 2-0 Alberta set lead, only to have the Bisons win two straight to recover and force a fifth set. Today, the U SPORTS #2-ranked Bears were the ones to finish strong. Manitoba has continually battled back when down, which has not gone unnoticed to the home side.

“Manitoba seems to play their best when the chips are down,” Davidiuk says, “and the chips are down for both of us tomorrow … so we just have got to figure out how to combine [the first two and last sets] into a full match.”

Spencer Grahame and Karil Dadash-Adeh impressed for a second straight night for the visitors, each recording 16 kills and two blocks.

Heslinga was joined in the win by a good performance from middle Billy Johnstone, who had 8 kills and three blocks, and setter Sam Drybrough who tied a career-high with 52 assists.

The Bears again dominated the first two frames, Heslinga and Jacob Sargeant being the biggest contributors with a combined 16 kills, and they seemed on their way to a comeback sweep in Game 2.

Dadash-Adeh and the Bisons showed out over the next two sets, holding the Bears to just a .193 hitting percentage (21-11-57) while they caught fire themselves with a .346 mark (27-9-52) over the same period.

With the echoes of last night’s reverse-sweep seemingly blanketing everyone’s thoughts at the Saville Centre, Heslinga and the Bears were able to change the tides and win the final frame with a commanding 15-7 scoreline. It included a 5-0 run to start, helped by phenomenal play from captain Grayden Wiebe, and finished by Heslinga and Johnstone taking over the Alberta attack.

The teams take part in Game 3 tomorrow night, first-serve coming at 7:00PM MST.