Bisons women sweep Cougars

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This article was published 28/02/2025 (391 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The great teams find a way.

The Manitoba Bisons are one of the few programs in the country with legitimate national championship aspirations, and on a night when they were pushed and even found themselves in unfamiliar territory — down a set — they never blinked.

A scrappy performance from the nationally ranked No. 2 Bisons ended in a 3-1 (17-25, 25-14, 25-23, 25-21) triumph and a 2-0 series sweep of the Mount Royal Cougars in the Canada West women’s volleyball quarterfinals at Investors Group Athletic Centre on Friday.

The Bisons advanced to the semifinals for the third year in a row and will play an opponent that has yet to be determined.

“I thought it was critical today,” head coach Ken Bentley said of his team’s experience shining in a close contest. “We haven’t faced that in a while, that push, that pressure, and we need to able to invite it, which I thought we handled it wonderfully.

“We’re accustomed to it, obviously, but I thought it was so good for us tonight.”

While Manitoba received another outstanding performance from star left side Raya Surinx — who led all players with 20 kills and provided two service aces — it was 5-7 left side Andi Almonte who stepped up in a key supporting role as the game wore on, finishing with 11 kills and nine digs.

“I just kind of take on the role of just being consistent, being there when the team needs me, doing what the team needs me to do,” said Almonte, who recorded five kills and two service aces in the last two sets. “I may not be getting all the big kills, the big blocks and the big serves, but I’m there to just be for the team.”

The Bisons dropped just set in the series, which came in the first frame on this night.

It was an uncharacteristically slow start for the hosts.

Everything went Mount Royal’s way as they got out to leads of 5-1, 11-3 and 19-6. Cougars middles Mya Morgan and Emma Boyd were impactful at the net, as the visitors held Manitoba to .048 hitting while recording five blocks.

“We were playing, that first set was convenient volleyball,” said Bentley. “It was just not our m.o. normally, but we were just playing a little too much convenience, and winning is about inconvenience. That’s just the bottom line.”

Surinx kept swinging, though — ending the set with 17 attacks and six kills — and while the Bisons were ultimately unable to dig out of an early hole, they accounted for 11 of the last 17 points.

“I thought after that, we were really good,” Bentley added. “We just kept hitting. I thought that was super important that we kept hitting the ball, and we did that right to the end.”

Indeed, it was game on in the second.

Manitoba strung together six points in a row to take a 6-2 lead, then battled to a 19-12 advantage before Cougars head coach Rhonda Schmuland had seen enough and called a timeout.

That didn’t help much.

The Bisons ended the frame by scoring 13 of the final 17 points in a bounce-back set that saw the Cougars offering little resistance against one of the most prolific offences in the country, as the hosts collectively hit a remarkable .552 and had 18 kills.

Manitoba’s ability to dominate the end of sets became a trend, and ultimately the difference, in this match. In the third frame, they scored seven of the last nine points, and closed the series on a 4-0 run, despite the two sides exchanging shots for most of the set.

“I think a lot of it comes down to experience. We’ve got a very young team, and out of the gals that are on the court, we’ve only had maybe two in this kind of situation before,” said Schmuland.“The only way you get experience is being there. This team, the Bisons, have lots of experience in this space, and you could see that and that their different players knew how to handle that pressure just a little bit better.”

“We practise how we play,” Almonte added. “We do a bunch of wash drills where there’s a lot of pressure on us for serving in the 20s, and so I just feel like how we practice is how the game will go. So if we just keep continuing to put in hard work, play Bison volleyball, make the makable plays, and just keeping the pressure just down and in tune with what we’re doing, then things will eventually go our way.”

Wesmen men oust Bisons in rivalry series

Across the city, the Winnipeg Wesmen triumphed 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-21) to sweep the Manitoba Bisons in the men’s volleyball quarterfinals series at Duckworth Centre.

Winnipeg’s collective offence found its touch, hitting .308 with 41 kills. Isaiah Olfert led the charge for the hosts with 12 kills while Paxton Koop and Jaxon Rose chipped in with nine and eight, respectively.

Manitoba’s Spencer Grahame led all players with 13 kills and five service aces.

The Wesmen advance to the semifinals for the second year in a row.

Wesmen women fall to Alberta

The Wesmen women’s volleyball team will be able to hang its hat on stealing the opening set, but the nation’s top-ranked squad ultimately prevailed as the Alberta Pandas won a 3-1 (18-25, 25-23, 25-16, 25-19) decision and a quarterfinals series sweep at Saville Community Sports Centre in Edmonton.

Wesmen captain Selva Planincic led all players with 18 kills and two service aces. Grace Vallis and Brooke Duncalfe supplied 12 and 11 kills, respectively.

Laila Johnston replied with 16 kills for Alberta, while Mackenzie Pool and Abby Guezen each had 13.

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca