Bisons battle back to take WolfPack in MVB

Nov 25, 2017 | 9:15 AM

KAMLOOPS, BC: The University of Manitoba Bisons rallied from a first set deficit to take the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack 3-1 in Canada West men’s volleyball play on Friday (Nov 24).

The scores on the Warner Rentals court at the Tournament Capital Centre were 18-25,25-20,25-18,25-22. TRU drops to 2-7 on the year while Manitoba is 3-6.

Scott Vercaigne led the way for Winnipeg with 9 kills in 26 chances with two service aces, three digs, a solo block and six block assists.

Tim Dobbert (4th year, outside hitter, Aichelberg, Germany) answered with 20 kills in 35 swings with a service ace, two digs, a solo block and four block assists.

SYNOPSIS

The WolfPack won the first set handily.Dobbert led the way with six kills in nine swings.

The Bisons rallied in the second set as both Scott Vercaigne (5th year, outside, Winnipeg, MB)  and Dustin Spiring (4th year, middle, Winnipeg, MB)  had two kills apiece.  Sam Taylor Parks (3rd year, middle, Kelowna,BC) had three kills in three swings himself for TRU.

Manitoba took the lead in the match in the fourth thanks to Kevin Negus’ (3rd year, right side, Sioux Lookout, ON) three kills in four opportunities. Vercaigne had two service aces in that set.  Dobbert added seven kills in nine chances for the WolfPack in the set.

The fourth set saw the WolfPack challenge the Bisons but they fell short. Dobbert had five of his kills on the night in that final set.  Adam DeJonckheere (5th year, left side, Winnipeg, MB) had three kills in three swings in the fourth.

KEY STATS:

Scores by set:

TRU               25  20    18   22   –1

Manitoba        18  25    25   25   –3

Manitoba:

Scott Vercaigne: 9 kills in 26 chances, 2 service aces, 3 digs, 1 solo block, 6 block assists

Adam DeJonckheere: 7 kills in 20 opportunities, 1 service ace, 6 digs, 3 block assists

Dylan Sutherland: 26 assists, 1 service ace, three digs, seven block assists

Kyle Martens: 10 digs

TRU

Tim Dobbert: 20 kills in 35 chances, 1 service ace, two digs, 1 solo block, 2 block assists

Charlie Bringloe: 7 kills in 19 opportunities, 3 service aces, 2 digs, 1 block assist

Sam Taylor Parks; 8 kills in 13 swings, 2 digs, 4 block assists

Jakob Hamilton: 34 assists, 4 digs

Landon Currie: 15 digs, 3 assists.

RECORDS:

Manitoba:  3-6   TRU: 2-7

QUOTES:

TRU head coach Pat Hennelly:

On the loss”I don’t think it was great volleyball. At the end we had opportunities. Multiple balls fell on the floor. The guys just don’t seem to have a flow in the game. Our practices don’t look like that. Its very frustrating. We missed 25 serves. It is hard to win in that situation. We had 10 more hitting errors than they did. We are giving away 40 points. That is a game and a half. That was a team which gave us some points back. It gave us a chance. Not great volleyball after the first set. Credit to Manitoba. They got better as the match went on.  We are just so stiff and nervous. We are worried we can’t play volleyball. We need to change that for sure.”

Manitoba head coach Garth Pischke (31st year)i:

On victory:” At key times after 20 in the last three sets we managed to minimize our errors. That is something that we haven’t been doing. We forced Thompson Rivers to play and we blocked really well. I hope that we can continue it.”

UP NEXT: 

Both teams will go at it again on Saturday (Nov 25) on the Warner Rentals Court at the Tournament Capital Centre. Game time is 6:45 pm.  Webcast on Canada West TV will begin around 6:35pm.

The WolfPack will travel to Alberta to play the Pandas on the final weekend before the Canada West breaks for Christmas exams (Saturday and SundayDec 2-3).  Manitoba will go home to host the University of Saskatchewan Huskies on Friday and Saturday (Dec 1-2).