WVB: No. 8 nationally ranked Bisons win eighth in a row, sweep UBCO 3-0

WINNIPEG – The No. 8 nationally ranked Manitoba Bisons made it eight wins in a row on Saturday night at IGAC, sweeping UBCO 3-0 to improve to 10-2. The Heat fell to 5-7. The Bisons are now 6-0 at home this year, surrendering just two sets. They’re also 17-2 dating back to 2022-23. 
 
Manitoba didn’t allow more than 15 points in any set. They’ve done so on 12 different occasions this year, heading into the winter break with a ton of confidence. 
 
The Heat held early leads in the first and second, but were unable to match the service pressure of the hosts. Manitoba recorded eight aces, compared to one for UBCO, while the visitors were pushed out of system often on serve-receive. 
 
The nation’s leading attacker Raya Surinx (199 kills) paced Manitoba, recording a three-set career high of 21 kills with just two errors on 31 attacks. Her kills total tied for the sixth-most in a three-set Canada West regular season game, and is just five shy of her all-time best of 26 from last season. 
 
The Heat got six kills a piece from 6’3″ second-year middle Madison Gardner and first-year outside hitter Korey Jenkins (two shy of her career high). They had success running their middles, but were forced to other options due to the Bisons’ serves.
 
UBCO matched the Bisons on the block (both teams had six assisted blocks), but hit just .187, compared to .590 for the Herd. 
 
Manitoba’s first attack error didn’t occur until the third set, as Katreena Bentley – who finished with 40 assists – consistently found the right matchup to exploit. 
 
A close first set was broken open at the service line by the Bisons. Leading 11-8, Eve Catojo, Surinx and Brenna Bedosky went to work. They combined for three aces, while the Heat scored just twice the rest of the way. 
 
An ace from right side Andi Almonte, followed by a Bedosky kill – one of her eight on a game-high .727 hitting percentage – gave the hosts momentum. Middle Natalie Funk smashed down a kill for the Heat to keep things close, but the depth of the Bisons proved to be too much. 
 
Surinx hit .708 with nine kills, zero errors and five digs, while Bedosky flashed her skill-set with a variety of creative kills, adding a second service ace as Manitoba won 25-15. 
 
Two big blocks from Jenkins created optimism in the third for UBCO, but that was squashed quickly by the deep Bisons roster. Almonte dished an accurate out of system pass to Catojo, adding three kills from the right, while captain Light Uchechukwu finished with ten kills. 
 
“You can put two on Raya, and defend all of her angles, but then you have Eve, who just runs T’s and plants them left and right. Or you have Andi on the right too, who’s just killing it. It’s such a headache to defend, and it’s awesome,” said Bedosky, who’s hitting a career-best .451 this year, and has been above .500 in four straight. 
 
“We don’t just have one superstar. We have Raya, and she’s incredible, but we have so much depth on our outsides, in our middle. We have like six, seven middles. If anything happens we’re prepared. It’s awesome to know that nothing depends on just one person.”
 
Both teams are now off for the winter break.