Bisons top Cascades, halfway to national championship berth

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This article was published 29/02/2024 (557 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Light Uchechukwu hammered 13 kills and Ella Gray supplied 12 more to lead the University of Manitoba Bisons to a 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-16) sweep of the Fraser Valley Cascades in Canada West women’s volleyball action at Investors Group Athletic Centre Thursday night.

Game 2 in the best-of-three semifinal playoff is scheduled for Friday at 7 p.m. A victory Friday by Manitoba would clinch a top-two finish in Canada West and result in an automatic berth in the U Sports national championship, slated for March 15-7 in Hamilton, Ont.

“We obviously need to be pretty diligent here for (Friday),” said Bisons head coach Ken Bentley. “It’s gonna be a battle for sure and we know that.”

Uchechukwu, who hit at a .393 clip, added 11 digs but the defensive star of the night was Bisons libero Julia Arnold, whose 24 digs broke the previous conference playoff record of 21 digs in a three-set match.

“I stayed really patient today and kind of just read their hitters pretty well and obviously they’re swinging hard and they’re swinging fast at us,” said Arnold. “But being able to just read off my teammates and just stay patient and stay just be confident in myself really helped.”

No. 3-ranked Manitoba’s balanced attack also got seven kills each from Andi Almonte and middles Eve Catojo and Brenna Bedosky en route to the victory. The Bisons are still playing without their star left side, Raya Surinx, who has been sidelined the last two weeks with a sprained ankle. Surinx has resumed jumping in practice and Bentley is hopeful she could be cleared to play by next week.

A key moment in the match came midway through the second set after the Bisons had rallied from an early deficit, believing they had taken a 16-14 lead. The referee overturned the call, ruling a Manitoba shot had deflected off the net antenna, making the score 15-15. However, the Bisons didn’t flinch and went on to capture the set.

“I thought that was a really pivotal moment for us actually,” said Arnold. “Because I thought we responded very well to that. Obviously not all calls are gonna go our way, so being able to just be like, ‘OK, next play. That’s not in our control anymore and we’ve just got to keep rolling.’ I think that shows kind of our growth and evolution as a team and kind of just where our maturity is right now.”

Game 3, if necessary, would be played Saturday at 6 p.m.

The Cascades, ranked fifth in the country, were led by Gabrielle Attieh, the reigning U Sports and Canada West player of the year, who finished with 10 kills. Her total was matched by her sister Lauren Attieh, who also chipped in with a team-high 13 digs.

“We were ready to battle tonight — they’re very good team and we knew it was gonna be hard,” said Arnold. “But we prepared for it and it paid off for us in the end.”

The Bisons and Cascades both finished the conference regular season with 20-4 records. Fraser Valley advance to the semifinals with a 2-0 quarter-final triumph over the MacEwan Griffins while Manitoba eliminated the UBC Okanagan Heat 2-0.

The No. 1-ranked UBC Thunderbirds and No. 7 Alberta Pandas begin their best-of-three semifinal series in Vancouver Friday.

— staff