WINNIPEG, Man. – Manitoba hit .395 as a team with just nine attack errors, compared to 18, and a .091 hitting percentage for Saskatchewan in a 3-0 Bisons sweep at IGAC on Friday (25-19, 25-20, 25-13). 

Eric Ogaranko led the way with 12 kills, while Sammy Ludwig had 38 assists, and four different Bisons hit above .400. Manitoba was lethal at the line, with seven total aces, paced by two from Ogaranko. Saskatchewan got three aces and ten total points from Emmett Graham, but for the most part the hosts kept a lethal Huskies attack at bay.

Hitting percentage told the story in set one. Manitoba hit .375, while the Huskies operated at just .111 with six errors compared to three for the Herd. 

Owen Weekes opened the game with a smash from the left, and he kept that momentum going all set, with five kills and a .400 hitting percentage along with an ace, while Ludwig dished out ten assists. 

Service pressure was a factor in the attacking totals. The Herd forced Saskatchewan to pass from behind the attack line often, allowing their block to get established, including a triple block from Weekes, Jonah Dueck and Karil Dadash Adeh. 

Manitoba led throughout the set, including 15-10 at one point. The Huskies made a push with a 5-0 run to tie the game, but the Herd went on a run of their own to win the set by six. Saskatchewan's leading attacker Emmett Graham led the U of S with three kills in the first, including a c-ball run that began Saskatchewan's five-point surge, however costly errors affected the Huskies down the stretch. 

Ogaranko helped blow the second set wide open for Manitoba. Up by one at 15-14, the Herd went on a 5-0 run with the crafty left at the service line. His tricky assortment of serves forced the Huskies to once again scramble on the attack, allowing Manitoba to establish their block. 

Heppner and Ludwig combined for back-to-back assisted blocks from the right during the five-point push, as Manitoba won the set 25-20. After two, the hosts had 13 assisted blocks, compared to four for the visitors. 

Noah Opseth, who had 23 assists for Saskatchewan, got the middles involved early in set three. Mathieu Methot put down his fourth kill of the game for the Huskie's third point, and he and fellow middle Jacob Baird combined for ten kills, with Baird hitting .833 overall. 

But Manitoba's service pressure, and a notable performance from Ogaranko were too much. Dadash Adeh and Ludwig had aces for Manitoba, who hit .462 as a team, while the visitors hit in the negatives, continually running around the court due to the play from the hosts at the line. 

Ogaranko went off for three straight kills, one from the pipe and two from the left, and Manitoba had eight kills in their first 11 points overall, cruising to a 12-point set win. 

The two teams play again tomorrow with first serve set for 4:00 PM CST.