EDMONTON – The Bobcats answered the bell when needed most Friday night, beating the Winnipeg Wesmen 3-1 (31-29, 25-22, 15-25, 25-23) in a critical Canada West playoff showdown.
It was win or go home, as Brandon’s loss to Alberta meant the Bobcats needed a win to even have a chance at Final Four and may still need some help from the Golden Bears Saturday.
Errors hurt the Bobcats in the first as eleven of Winnipeg’s first 16 points came on Brandon errors.
The comeback ‘Cats weren’t fazed however, as the team cleaned things up before a massive block tied it at 18-18 and Wesmen coach Larry McKay called his first timeout.
It remained close until late in the set, when the Bobcats fought off four set points before an over-bump was put away by Max Brook and an attack error by Nigel Neilsen went out of bounds.
Brandon used a 7-1 run early in the second set to take the lead an not look back but went ice cold in the third, hitting just three kills with four errors at the technical timeout with Winnipeg leading 16-12.
Trailing 17-12 Tom Friesen subbed in and scored on his first swing but it wasn’t enough as the Wesmen went on a 8-2 run from there.
The final set saw the Bobcats slowly take control and slowly extend the lead thanks in large part to consistent passing before putting it away on a kill from João Cunha.
The Bobcats managed just three aces to 19 service errors, but Winnipeg had two aces and 20 errors from the line.
Jens Watt led the Bobcats with 13 kills while Philipp Lauter had 12. Cunha had a team-high 10 digs to go with six kills.
Conference all-star Daniel Thiessen had 23 kills and 13 digs to go with five blocks.
The Bears and Wesmen conclude the playoff pool Saturday at Edmonton’s Saville Centre. Results from that match will determine which two teams move on to Final Four.
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