The teams entered the contest tied for third in Canada West’s East division with 3-5 records and by the end of the night, it was Winnipeg who emerged victorious in five sets.
Bisons head coach Ken Bentley said he was happy with his team’s fight in their first match since December.
“We’re not far from where we need to be,” he said. “I’m expecting we’ll have some good success in the second half still.”
The match opened with a clean first set, with both teams combining for only one service error and four reception errors. Each side also had three players tally three or more kills and the Wesmen took the set by a score of 25-22.
The second frame provided more theatrics than the first as the rivals engaged in lengthy rallies and traded points before a Light Uchechukwu kill gave the Bisons a 27-25 set victory.
The Wesmen stormed back in the third set and jumped out to an early 12-3 lead. Manitoba cut into the deficit but couldn’t complete their comeback, dropping the third set by a score of 25-17.
Needing a win to extend the game, Manitoba claimed the fourth set by a score of 25-20 on the back of six kills in the frame from Keziah Hoeppner.
In a tight fifth and final set, Winnipeg put a halt to the Bisons comeback, winning the race to 15. The final score for the set was 15-10.
The win for Winnipeg was their first in three tries against the Bisons this year. Head coach Phil Hudson said there were no major adjustments to their game plan coming in.
“We had a lot of strong attacks from our serve receives today,” he said. “We did a great job of sticking with it and playing our game.”
Hoeppner had a game-high 16 kills to lead Manitoba, while Ashleigh Laube and Kely Warmington topped Winnipeg with 15 each.
With the completion of the game, this year’s best of five Duckworth Challenge finishes with a score of 3-2 for Manitoba.
Next week, the Wesmen will host Brandon on Thursday and the Bisons will welcome Saskatchewan to the Investors Group Athletic Centre on Friday and Saturday.