Box Score The Winnipeg Wesmen were granted an 11
th hour reprieve Saturday night.
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For the second straight night, the Wesmen women's volleyball team forced a fifth set, but unlike Friday, it swung the fortunes in its favour, holding off multiple match points to eventually down the Saskatchewan Huskies 3-2 (25-23, 12-25, 23-25, 25-23, 19-17) in a Canada West conference match at the Duckworth Centre.
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The Huskies were sure they had the match won in the fifth set at 15-14 when Emily Lavallee's swing went wide, but a Saskatchewan net violation gave the Wesmen new life.
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All told, the Wesmen dodged four Saskatchewan match points in the fifth set and swung it ultimately in their favour after falling behind 17-16.
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After
Jessica Bergstrom planted a kill from the middle to give the Huskies their last lead, middle blocker Grace Vallis responded on the next sequence with a triumphant kill of her own to tie it.
Taryn Hannah then put an attack into the middle of the net to make it 18-17 Winnipeg and her next swing went into a Wesmen block that the Huskies couldn't scramble to save.
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The 149-minute match that featured a combined 156 digs and 122 kills ended with the Wesmen snapping a four-match losing streak and improving to 6-8 to stay in eighth place in the conference.
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The Huskies, meanwhile, fell to 8-8 and remain in seventh.
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Vallis had a season-high 16 kills to lead the Wesmen, who hit .141 for the night. She added five block assists and five digs. Selva Planincic and Lavallee both had 13 kills.
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Taylor Cangemi had a match-high 19 digs, one of three U of W players in double digits. Brooke Duncalfe had 13 and Megan Kendziora, making her first start of the season, added 11 digs.
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The Huskies were led by Hannah's 26 kills while
Rosetta Cyr had 17 and
Keely Anderson 13. Hannah also had a team-high 18 digs, one of four Huskies in double digits. Cyr added 18,
Gabrielle Flaman had 16, and
Tielle Hagel 15.
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