Gray leads balanced attack as Bisons women beat Wesmen in four sets

WINNIPEG – Four Bisons finished with double-digit kills as a balanced attack helped the women’s volleyball team complete a weekend sweep of the Winnipeg Wesmen on Saturday.

Manitoba won in four sets (23-25, 26-24, 28-26, 25-18) in front of 400 fans at Investors Group Athletic Centre to improve to 2-0 on the young season, while the Wesmen fall to an even 2-2.

First-year Ella Gray led the way for Manitoba with 20 kills, but Keziah Hoeppner added 14 and Andi Almonte and Light Uchechukwu had 11 each in what Bisons head coach Ken Bentley agreed was an ideal way to approach their game.

“I think that we’re pretty balanced, we’re more balanced than we have been in the past,” said Bentley. “As long as we get the ball to our setter, we have an opportunity to touch all the zones and make it harder for the other team. That’s been really good.”

In the first set, Gray established herself as a go-to attacker — especially in rotation on the left side, tallying two of her three set kills in quick succession in the middle of the set.

“These are her first two university matches and she’s been impressive,” said Bentley. “We had a lot of nerves yesterday and Winnipeg is a tough team, but she held herself together and kept hitting the ball. I’m really happy she loves to hit it, she does a good job of it.”

The Wesmen were able to build a first set lead with a run of points late, though — led by first-year Selva Planincic and her heavy hits on the right side. Ahead 24-19, the visitors gave Manitoba some life by committing two violations but were able to close it out off a Kelysian Warmington kill, 25-23.

In the second, a solo stuff block from Gray set the tempo for Manitoba, who improved their execution in the set.

Ella Gray can do it all. ?

4 kills, 2 digs and 2 blocks for the rookie so far, as the Bisons and Wesmen are knotted in the second set.#WeAreAllBisons pic.twitter.com/SMI22V6FTA

— Manitoba Bisons ?? (@umbisons) November 6, 2021

Despite giving up a run of five points to the Wesmen before the technical timeout, which included two kills from Taylor Kleysen, the Bisons finished with an excellent stretch.

Trailing 22-23, the Herd defence came up with two pancake digs on one rally, extending and winning the point on an Andi Almonte kill. After that, two Keziah Hoeppner kills were able to provide some breathing room, as Manitoba would win the set 26-24.

The third was the day’s most competitive set, going into extra time with the two rivals trading blows. Again, the Bisons turned up their defence late in the set, forcing two long rallies after 23-23 to get an edge on the Wesmen. Then, it was Gray once again showing the finishing ability — a big kill at 26-26 was followed by another attack to win it for Manitoba, 28-26.

In the fourth, Manitoba finally put their best foot forward to start a set and were able to get ahead and stay ahead. Though Emma Parker played some strong defence in the middle of the set at 11-11 — with two digs off the floor on successive points — Manitoba went into the technical timeout up 16-12 and didn’t look back, finishing the win with a 25-18 set victory.

Next up, women’s volleyball head on the road, as they face the Saskatchewan Huskies on November 12 and 13.