WINNIPEG - The no. 7 ranked Manitoba Bisons survived a determined effort from the visiting UBC Thunderbirds on Saturday, winning 3-2 (23-25, 25-19, 25-21, 24-26, 15-10) to capture a weekend sweep.
With the win, Manitoba improves to 6-1 on the season while UBC falls to 2-6.
"We couldn't pull it out in a tough five setter. We started off fairly strong again but then had a lull in the middle. We definitely battled back hard though," said UBC head coach
Richard Schick. "It was an improvement on last night in terms of our fight. We have to realize that we must bring that type of attitude every single night."
Milo Warren had another big game for the T-Birds with 21 kill on .341 hitting to go along with seven digs.
Demijan Savija added 18 kills on .324 hitting coming off the bench to bolster the T-Bird attack but it wasn't enough to carry them to the win.
"It was good to see
Milo Warren to have such a solid weekend, he was very consistent both nights for us," added Schick. "Demijan came in off the bench and did a good job.
Cary Brett was solid at the net again and
Ian Perry did a good job setting and distributing the ball."
Chris Voth tallied a match-high 20 kills with Dane Pischke and Joseph Brooks also hitting double figures with 14 and 11 kills receptive for Manitoba.
Trailing 2-1 heading into the fourth set, the T-Birds responded with a solid effort and led 21-19 late. The Bisons didn't give up easily and responded to tie the set at 21-21. It remained deadlocked at 24-24 before a Savija kill gave UBC their second set point which they converted by virtue of a block from
Jeff Ross and
Joe Cordonier.
The deciding fifth set was indicative of the entire match - both teams were aggressive and the play was most certainly even. It was the Bisons jumping out to the lead though, 8-4 going into the technical timeout, a lead they would never relinquish. UBC actually put together their best offensive performance of the match in the set, hitting for .353, but the Bisons were nearly flawless with 11 kills on 14 swings (.714 hitting).
The first set went back and forth early and UBC led 16-15 at the second technical timeout. Manitoba came back to lead 18-17 but the T-Birds then put together a three-point run that gave them an insurmountable advantage.
In the second and third sets, Manitoba made the big plays to pull out tight sets. In the second, four errant serves by the Bisons gave UBC easy points to work with, but the Bisons led despite those errors for most of the set. Trailing 16-11 at the second technical timeout, UBC did pull within two at 19-17 but never got closer as Manitoba closed the set on a 6-2 run.
The third set was point for point early on, however, Maniotba finally pulled away late making it 21-18 with a kill from Voth. Brooks added a kill later in the set, making it 23-20 and Manitoba survived the frame.
UBC returns home to host the Saskatchewan Huskies next weekend in their final weekend of Canada West action before the winter break.
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