WINNIPEG — The Bobcats held off the surging Bisons for a 3-2 win (25-20, 25-23, 24-26, 25-27, 15-12) Friday night at the University of Manitoba’s Investors Group Athletic Centre.
The match came down to a fifth and deciding set after the Bobcats took the opening two sets. The Bisons responded by winning the third and fourth sets () but could not complete the comeback as Brandon took the final set.
“We have played a lot of fifth sets this year, so we felt pretty comfortable tonight,” said Bobcats head coach Grant Wilson. “We knew we were going to see their best volleyball after the second set and they gave us a battle.”
Spencer Grahame led the Bisons on the night with 16 kills in the match while his Bobcats counterpart Philipp Lauter put up a match-high 23 kills.
The visitors started off by taking the opening set 25-20. Brandon carried the lead for the majority of the set with Max Brook and Lauter each putting down three kills. Manitoba’s Ben Carleton had four kills of his own on 10 attempts.
The second set brought a tight, back-and-forth battle between the two sides. Manitoba took a slim lead early on by going up 12-8 before Carleton put down a huge kill before the technical timeout, giving the Bisons a 16-13 lead at the break. The Bobcats levelled the score at 19-19 and eventually seized a 23-20 lead late in the set. Manitoba took its turn to battle back and tied the set at 23-23. Brandon’s Max Brook sealed a 25-23 second set for squad with a service ace to go up 2-0 in the match.
“That definitely wasn’t the start we wanted,” stated Bison head coach Arnd Ludwig. “We were hesitant and didn’t play aggressive until the middle of the third set when we started to turn it around.”
The third set started off just as tightly contested as the second with the Bisons leading 8-7. Another timely Carleton kill put the Bisons up by three, 16-13, at the technical timeout. After the break the Bobcats found some momentum and outscored Manitoba 6-1 to take a 19-17 lead as they tried to clinch the set and match, but a block from the Bisons Zach Janzen later tied the set up at 21-21.
Manitoba went on to force a fourth set, as a Matthew Campbell kill clinched a 26-24 third set win.
For a second-straight set the Bisons found themselves up 16-13 at the technical timeout as they tried to force a fifth and final set. The two sides battled to a 23-23 tie after a Bobcats service aced evened the score. Owen Schwartz came up with the set-sealing block to give his Manitoba team the fourth set 27-25.
The Bobcats then clinched the match with the 15-12 fifth set victory.
Both teams will be back at Investors Group Athletic Centre for their second match of the weekend tomorrow at 6:45 p.m.
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