BRANDON, MB – After a loss in straight sets to the Brandon Bobcats on Friday night, the Saskatchewan Huskies were looking to turn things around on Saturday in game two of the series. The Huskies left everything out on the court and would head home with the 3-2 win (25-17, 25-21, 21-25, 16-25, 22-20).
The first set started evenly, with the teams racing to an early 6-6 tie. That’s when the huskies started to pull away, with two kills from Levi Olsen. Brandon would make a few attack errors to put the Huskies up 12-8. From there, Saskatchewan controlled the set and would take the first 25-17.
The pace of play was more evenly matched in the second set. Neither team would have the lead for long and the Huskies were off to a 16-13 lead before three straight points from the Bobcats tied things up at 16-16. Saskatchewan would go on an incredible seven-point streak, thanks to five attack errors from the Bobcats. The second set would go to the Huskies 25-21.
Determined to turn things around, Brandon came out with more focus in the third set, with a five-point streak to grab an early 9-5 lead. Three kills from Levi Olson would help the Huskies, but Brandon’s offence was dialed in as they went up 18-11. A few great kills from Dylan Mortensen would put more points on the board for the Huskies but the Bobcats persevered and took the third set 25-21.
Brandon dominated the fourth set, thanks to the combined talents of Tom Friesen, Rylan Metcalf and Max Brook. At 19-16 Brandon, the Bobcats notched six unanswered points to win 25-16.
The fifth set saw an early Huskies lead at 7-5, thanks to two straight aces from Dylan Mortensen. The Bobcats weren’t willing to let go however, scoring six of the next seven points to take the 11-8 lead. The rest of the set was back and forth until a service error from Brandon’s JJ Love and a kill from Emmett Graham gave the Huskies the 22-20 fifth set win.
KEY PERFORMANCES Dylan Mortensen had a strong game, with 28 kills, three aces, four blocks, and ten digs. Levi Olson would rack up 18 kills, one ace, one block and three assists for the Huskies. Brandon’s Tom Friesen would lead the way in kills with 24, while JJ Love would have 43 assists and three blocks.
STANDINGS
The Huskies currently sit in fifth place in the Canada West standings. With Canada West playoffs starting on February 24, Saskatchewan is looking to move up into fourth place in order to host the quarter finals here at home.
NEXT UP
Saskatchewan is back at the PAC on February 10 & 11 to take on the Calgary Dinos who currently sit in seventh place in the Canada West standings. Friday night’s match up will start at 8:00 PM, with Saturday’s game starting at 5:00 PM. During Saturday’s match up, the Huskies will pay tribute to their graduating players in a special pre-game ceremony. Tickets are available at HuskieTickets.com.