Wesmen vanquish Bisons

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This article was published 27/02/2025 (534 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Meetings with its cross-town rival have been favourable events for the Winnipeg Wesmen.

That trend continued Thursday.

Led by a 15-kill performance from first-team conference all-star Isaiah Olfert, the nation’s top-ranked Wesmen downed the Manitoba Bisons 3-1 (25-19; 20-25; 25-22; 25-21) in Game 1 of the Canada West men’s volleyball quarterfinals before a raucous crowd at Duckworth Centre.

Winnipeg leads the best-of-three series 1-0. Game 2 is back at Duckworth Centre tonight at 7 p.m.

“I think the Wesmen-Bison matchup always brings out the best in both teams,” said Wesmen first-year head coach Chris Voth.

“First playoff game, there’s a lot of emotions, a lot of tension, and they were able to overcome that and still execute fairly well. There’s still things to improve on, of course, but there’s a lot of emotions, a lot of tension, and they did really well.”

Not counting a pre-season game in 2022, the Wesmen haven’t lost to the Bisons in over three years. Many have been nail-bitters that have gone the distance, but Winnipeg has managed to come out on top each time out.

“This one, we just take a lot of pride in,” said Olfert, who added two assists and seven digs. “I don’t know if it’s any more than that, it’s just you don’t want to lose to the guy living across town from you.”

Luke Lodewyks added 13 kills and nine digs for the hosts, while Jaxon Rose provided seven kills and eight digs on a night Winnipeg was outpaced 124-117 in attacks but led with a .248 hitting percentage to Manitoba’s .169.

“I think it was our heat and how well spread our offence was. By the end, we had guys getting kills out of everywhere. It wasn’t just one guy putting on a show, it was everybody,” said Olfert.

The Bisons heavy hitters were largely held in check. Karil Dadesh Adeh had 12 kills, while Owen Weekes supplied another 10.

“I think Luke Lodewyks and Isaiah Olfert had two really good games today. I that we played very well in the middle and we didn’t score enough over the outsides,” Bisons head coach Lupo Ludwig said.

Manitoba was the top serving team in the country this season — leading all schools with 2.49 service aces per set — but didn’t play to its standard on this night.

Perhaps it was the nerves that came with a rivalry game in the playoffs; the two sides combined for 14 service errors in the first set, with the Bisons accounting for eight of those.

Wesmen left side Rose opened the frame with an error from the line, and Bisons’ middle Jordon Heppner ended it the same way to give the hosts an early advantage after an even set that ended in Winnipeg scoring six of the last seven points.

The Bisons were more settled from the line after the first set but still never quite found their usual touch, ending with 20 errors.

“The first set was kind of a catastrophe,” said Ludwig.

“It’s not quite as good as we have (been). It’s also something that cost us a little bit, but it’s our game, so I don’t complain about that at all.”

The Wesmen are one step closer to a conference championship that may have seemed like a dream at the beginning of the season, with the program losing three starters and bringing on a new leader in Voth.

The team showed a long time ago it is real, however, and Thursday night’s performance was further evidence of that.

“I think you want to treat it like every other night,” Olfert said of his mindset during the playoffs.

“I think every night’s a chance to put on a show if you want to think about it that way, but I think it was super awesome for the win we got today, and I was glad everyone on our team was able to contribute the way they did, so it was awesome.”

Bisons women tame Cougars

Across the city, the nationally ranked No. 2 Manitoba Bisons women’s volleyball squad was well-rested and played like it in a dominant 3-0 (25-21; 25-18; 25-22) victory over the Mount Royal Cougars in Game 1 of the Canada West quarterfinals at Investors Group Athletic Centre.

Star left side Raya Surinx, who was named a conference first-team all-star for the second year in a row, sparked the offence with 18 kills and a service ace. Light Uchechukwu chipped in with 11 kills and an ace.

Setter Katreena Bentley, also named a first-team all-star for a second straight season, had 34 assists. Julia Arnold, a second-team all-star for a consecutive season, had nine digs.

Bronwynn Davies-Neira led the Cougars with nine kills and eight digs.

Game 2 goes Friday at 6 p.m., back at IGAC.

Wesmen women can’t hang with top-ranked Alberta

The young Winnipeg Wesmen knew they would be in tough against a team with national championship aspirations, and it played out that way as the No. 1 Alberta Pandas cruised to a 3-0 (25-13; 25-16; 25-18) triumph in Game 1 of the conference quarterfinals at Saville Community Sports Centre in Edmonton.

Jaya Dzikowicz and Brooke Duncalfe each had six kills for Winnipeg.

Abby Guezen and Laila Johnston replied with 12 and 10 kills, respectively, for the hosts.

Game 2 will be Friday at 7 p.m. CT.

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca