Rivals to meet in championship

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This article was published 30/12/2019 (2326 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s an exhibition tournament that doesn’t count to the conference standings, but don’t tell that to these ladies.

The opportunity to become the winners of the first women’s volleyball edition of the Wesmen Classic was more than enough to get these eight teams from across the country excited. In the end, it will be one of the two schools that didn’t have to travel for the event that will get to say they made history.

The Winnipeg Wesmen (2-1) and Manitoba Bisons (3-0) finished the round-robin at the top of their respective pools to earn them a spot in Sunday night’s semifinals at the Duckworth Centre. The crosstown rivals finished what they started as they took care of business in the final four to schedule a meeting in today’s championship game at 3 p.m. The Bisons punched their ticket to the first-place match with a straight-set victory over the Saint Mary’s Huskies and the Wesmen did the same against the Dalhousie Tigers to set the table for an all-Manitoba matchup.

“There’s nothing like the rivalry between the U of W and U of M,” Wesmen interim head coach Phil Hudson said.

“It goes way back for years and years and years. We’re looking forward to the challenge. The kids have played with each other lots on different teams. Club teams, Canada Games and things like that and now they get a chance to face off against each other. It will be a lot of fun for the crowd that’s here and it will be a lot of fun for both teams.”

The Bisons, who entered the holiday break of the Canada West season with a dreadful 2-10 record, have looked nothing like a last-place squad as they’ve only lost one set all weekend. Coming into the tournament, the Bisons had lost six straight matches, winning only one set during that stretch. This weekend, the Herd picked up wins against Dalhousie, Brandon Bobcats and the McMaster Marauders.

“I think we just put everything behind us,” fifth-year Bisons setter Sydney Booker said. “We’re starting fresh and just really trying to grind it out. The break really helped and reminded us that we’re all together as a team. We have a lot of rookies this year, so I think as vets we want to help them (realize) if we end something on a bad note, we can build on it and climb to the top again.”

Despite their first-half struggles, the Bisons are still alive in the Canada West as they’re three games out of a playoff spot. Their performance this weekend may give them the confidence that they can turn their season around in 2020.

“It just reminds us that our team is really talented,” Booker said. “We have a lot to work with and we should always keep our heads up. We need to keep fighting for the next six weeks. We had a really good pre-season this year. We won two out of three tournaments, but we just kind of fell short coming into league (play). We just need to remind ourselves that we’re a good team, a strong team and we can compete with everyone else in Canada West.”

Taking down Dalhousie, the No.3-ranked team in the country, is one of the biggest wins the Wesmen have had in years. The U of W finished the first half of the Canada West season at 5-7 to put them in a tie for the conference’s final playoff spot with UBC Okanagan. The Wesmen had only won seven games in total in their past three seasons. Winnipeg’s other wins in the Wesmen Classic came against the Lakehead Thunderwolves and Saint Mary’s.

“I think just sticking together,” fifth-year Wesmen setter Rylie Dickson said on pulling off the upset in the semifinal.

“We were a little shaky coming out after Christmas, but every game we’ve just been getting better. I think we just worked really well as a team today.”

Today’s tilt marks the second time this season the Wesmen and Bisons have met in a tournament final at the Duckworth Centre. The two sides played in the Unruh Realty Invitational, a pre-season tournament, back in September with the Herd prevailing in a five-set thriller.

“It’s always fun to play them and win on their home turf,” Booker said “We have a really good rivalry with them and it’ll be a good match. We’re pretty close teams.”

If Dickson has anything to say about it, this tournament will end differently than the last one. It’s also not lost on either team that a chance to enter the record books is on the line.

“Oh it would be incredible,” Dickson said on what it would mean to win. “I would never forget that.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31