Wesmen take down Huskies

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This article was published 07/03/2025 (249 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s been a season of firsts for the Winnipeg Wesmen.

A first-year head coach. The first time they’ve held the No. 1 seed in the Canada West playoffs. The first time hosting Final Four weekend.

Now, the Wesmen will play for conference gold for the first time in program history.

A strong collective offensive effort that saw three different players reach double digits in kills earned the Wesmen a 3-1 (25-22, 26-24, 22-25, 28-26) triumph over the Saskatchewan Huskies in the Canada West men’s volleyball semifinal at Duckworth Centre on Friday.

“Unbelievable,” said Wesmen head coach Chris Voth, who was named conference Coach of the Year earlier this week.

“I couldn’t have imagined this year going like this. We’ve just been going game by game, and the guys have been amazing. We’re still looking for one more match, but unbelievable feeling going to nationals, and the guys really deserve it. They’ve been pushing all year and really proud of them.”

Indeed, the win also earned Winnipeg a trip to the U Sports championship tournament, which goes March 21-23 in Brandon. Saskatchewan will have an opportunity to punch their ticket by winning the bronze medal match on Saturday (5 p.m.).

The Wesmen will face the Alberta Golden Bears for the conference crown at 7 p.m., back at Duckworth Centre.

Alberta knocked off the UBC Thunderbirds 3-2 (27-25, 16-25, 18-25, 25-18, 15-10) in the second semifinal.

“Coming in and having a new coach, it’s been great,” said Luke Lodewyks, who supplied 14 kills, five digs and an ace. “I mean, we didn’t know what to expect the start of the season. We lost a couple big guys from our team, but Chris has been amazing.

“I think we’ve collaborated really well as a team. I can’t wait to see what we can do tomorrow. It’s gonna be pretty fun.”

Isaiah Olfert powered the Wesmen offence with 16 kills, while conference rookie of the year Easton Dick chipped in with 10 kills.

“Comes down to a lot of planning throughout this past week,” said Lodewyks. “Just collaboration from the boys, everyone on the same page, takes the whole team to get to get that win out there today.”

The Wesmen and Huskies matched up evenly on paper, both offering offences in the conference and solid defences. Where Winnipeg had an advantage, however, was in the service game.

It became the early story for Saskatchewan as the teams traded punches. While Winnipeg collectively hit a gaudy .500 in the opened set, led by six kills from Olfert, the Huskies committed six service errors. The frame ended, fittingly, on a service error by the visitors.

Saskatchewan’s defence stepped up in the second — limiting Winnipeg to 10 kills on .200 hitting — but its struggles from the service line continued, as their seven errors offered the hosts too many free points.

After a third set in which the Huskies scored six of the final nine points to keep their season alive, Winnipeg jumped out to 5-1 and 15-9 leads, while the offence returned its gaudy form from the first.

Saskatchewan clawed its way back to tie the set at 21-21, and a tug-of-war ensued for the next 10 points until the sides were tied at 26-26.

The sequence included a sensational effort from 6-10 left side Jaxon Rose, who dove into the bench area to save a point, which the Wesmen were eventually awarded to take a 25-24 lead.

“We have a motto, ‘Grit and Grime,’ I think that’s what it comes down to,” said Lodewyks. “Hustling for every ball, no balls hit the floor and then just stand together as a team working as hard as we can.”

The match ended on kills from Paxton Koop and Dick.

The Huskies were led by one of the best hitters in the conference, Emmett Graham, who finished with a game-high 19 kills. Isaiah Mamer supplied 15 kills, while Jacob Baird chipped in with 10 kills for the visitors.

“Just the fight,” Voth said of what he liked most about his team’s performance. “In a game like this, the teams are the same. Everyone’s ranked first, so it just comes down to making that one extra point and you could see we had a guy running into the bench… That’s just the heart of our team, and it’s been great.”

Bisons fall to Alberta in conference semifinal

The Manitoba Bisons already have a spot secured at nationals, but they won’t be going in on a winning note.

The Bisons quest for a second consecutive conference title fell short as the Alberta Pandas put forth a dominant performance in a 3-0 (25-19, 26-24, 25-14) victory in the Canada West women’s volleyball semifinals at Saville Community Sports Centre in Edmonton.

Laila Johnston and Abby Guezen sparked the Pandas offence with 13 kills each. Raya Surinx led the Bisons with 12 kills.

The Pandas face the UBC Thunderbirds in Saturday’s gold medal match, while the Bisons face Saskatchewan for bronze (6 p.m. CT).

Manitoba hosts nationals March 14-16 at Investors Group Athletic Centre.

A golden heave for Wright

Graham Wright entered the Manitoba Bisons’ track and field program as a walk-on.

He will leave a national champion.

The fifth-year thrower tossed 19.61 metres to capture gold in men’s weight throw at the U Sports track and field championships inside Dennis Fairall Fieldhouse in Windsor, Ont. Wright won silver a year ago.

His teammate, Joshua Suelzle, threw 17.91m to win bronze for the second year in a row.

Meanwhile, Adam Andres ran the men’s 60-metre hurdle in eight seconds to win bronze.

Wright, Suelzle and Andres added 22 points toward Manitoba’s bid at a team championship. The Bisons are in second place entering the final day of action. Western leads with 94 points.

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca