WINNIPEG – The Manitoba Bisons women's volleyball team fell to the Saskatchewan Huskies in four sets (25-23, 14-25, 25-27, 22-25) on Friday night on the courts of the Investors Group Athletic Centre.
The Bisons took the first set of the match but the Huskies stormed back and claimed the next three in a row to earn their 13th win of their 2019-20 Canada West campaign.
Mandi Fraser led Saskatchewan with 13 kills in the match while Manitoba's Kearley Abbott put down 16 for her Bisons squad.
"Our goal was to make this feel like as much of a playoff game as possible," said Huskies head coach
Mark Dodds. "We were on a four-game losing streak coming into tonight so we needed to put the pressure on ourselves to make sure we are prepared for the playoffs next weekend."
Manitoba carried a single point lead into three of the four technical timeouts in the match but ultimately saw their record fall to 4-19 on the season.
"There were enough chances for us to win some of those close sets tonight," stated Manitoba head coach Ken Bentley. "We had plenty of opportunities to secure some of those sets, we just needed to be better with the ball. I liked our fight but you can't keep falling behind and expect to come back."
The Bisons jumped to an early 10-5 lead in the first set but carried just a slim 16-15 lead at the technical timeout. The Herd once again caught fire in the latter half of the set restoring their five-point lead going up 23-18. For a second time in the set, Saskatchewan battled back and found themselves down just 24-23 with the momentum going in their favour. However, the Bisons secured the set with a kill from fourth-year Kearley Abbott.
In the second set, the Huskies led wire-to-wire and claimed the set with the final score reading 25-14. Saskatchewan's
Emily Koshinsky had a team-high six kills for her squad at the conclusion of the second set.
After trailing for the majority of the third set, the Bisons finally took a 21-19 lead but later found themselves tied with the Huskies three different times before Saskatchewan strung together two straight points to finally take the third set 27-25.
The fourth set was once again a tight one between the two sides. Manitoba had a slim 16-15 lead at the technical timeout but soon after found themselves behind and fighting their way back to try and force a fifth set. Up 24-22, Saskatchewan finished off the set to claim the 3-1 set victory over Manitoba.
The Bisons and Huskies will return to the Investors Group Athletic Centre at 7:45 p.m. tomorrow for what will be the final regular season match for both teams.
