WINNIPEG — The Manitoba Bisons men’s volleyball team defeated the Saskatchewan Huskies in an electric five set (25-19, 19-25, 25-19, 24-26, 12-15) match on the floor of the Investors Group Athletic Centre on Saturday night in Winnipeg.
“We dug ourselves a hole early tonight but we managed to pull out of it,” said Bisons head coach Lupo Ludwig. “What we did in that fourth set was special so hopefully we can carry this momentum into these next couple weeks.”
First-year Bisons outside hitter Spencer Grahame led his team with 17 kills while his counterpart Dylan Mortensen had a team-high 25 kills for the Huskies.
“We look to Dylan for a lot and we need to get a lot especially when we are down, said Huskies head coach Sean McKay. “We hope he can continue to bring those numbers for us.”
The two teams started things off going point-for-point early in the opening set. Saskatchewan gradually pulled ahead to hold a 16-11 lead at the technical timeout. Led by Levi Olson’s 10 kills on 12 attempts, the Huskies secured the set by a final score of 25-19.
Manitoba started off the second set by taking three of the first four points concluded by a powerful kill off the hands of third-year Ben Carleton. Later on in the set Carleton put down an ace to extend his team’s lead to 10-4. Saskatchewan cut the lead down to 16-13 at the technical timeout but Manitoba found their grove again and went on to secure the set 25-19, tying the game at 1-1.
Saskatchewan got out to a 9-5 lead in the third set before the Bisons rattled off four-straight points of their own to tie the set at 9-9. The Huskies swung the momentum back in their favour for the rest of the set, thanks in large to Mortensen. The Swift Current native put down nine kills in the set to lead his team to a 25-19 third set victory.
The fourth set proved to be an absolute battle for both sides. Manitoba carried a slim lead for the majority of the set before the visitors finally pulled even again at 17-17. From there, the two teams clawed tooth and nail for every point.
With the Huskies having two match points up 24-22, Manitoba put down two huge points to tie the set again at 24-24. The next two points saw Carleton earn his second ace of the match and Brendan Warren make a huge block to give Manitoba the fourth set 26-24.
The battle continued into the fifth set as the two teams fought to a 7-7 score halfway through. Manitoba went to on the secure the fifth set by a score of 15-12 and the match 3-2 on sets.
Manitoba will travel to Brandon for their final two regular season games to take on the Bobcats on February 25-26. The Huskies will host the Wesmen.
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