Box Score Written by: John Gaudes and Reynold Beniza

WINNIPEG  - The Bisons men's volleyball team found themselves in a prime situation for their home opener on Friday, October 25th - facing off against their cross-town rival after beating them the night before on their home court.

After two set wins to start, Manitoba looked ready to make it two straight, but the Wesmen came roaring back with a tight third set win, riding out the momentum to win in five sets (22-25, 19-25, 31-29, 25-22, 15-10). With the win, Winnipeg moves to 1-1 while Manitoba falls to the same record.

Winnipeg was led by the outside hitting duo of Casey Schouten and Tom Douglas-Powell, with the former earning 16 kills and the latter earning 18. Douglas-Powell added 12 digs to stuff his stat line.

In a losing effort, Manitoba got a great game from first year hitter Adam DeJonckheere, who led all players with 23 kills on 37 attempts.

"It was a tough loss, and they made some good adjustments. We started strong but ended up giving them pockets of points that ended up giving them the match," said Bisons head coach Cam Johnson.

The first set was the closest of the match, with both teams trading points until 17-all.  Manitoba then had a late burst spearheaded by DeJonckheere, who had five kills in the set, to push out a 25-22 win.  They followed that up in the second with a strong service game from Kevin Falconer, who took five straight to give Manitoba a lead they were able to hold throughout, winning 19-25.

The turning point came late in the third set, where both teams went back and forth into extra points.  Winnipeg, though, was able to make the last play on the strong arm of Schouten to win 31-29. They then turned that momentum into a strong start to the fourth set, this time with Schouten's serve, to take the first five points and ride out a set win.

In the deciding fifth set, the Bisons played from behind to tie up the match at six, but made costly defensive mistakes to fall behind by three - a lead they were never able to make up.

The Bisons and Wesmen meet again at the Investors Group Athletic Centre on Saturday, October 26th for the second of their weekend back-to-back. The start time is once again 8:15 p.m.

Written by: John Gaudes and Reynold Beniza