On Thursday, Nov. 21, the U of M Bisons women’s volleyball team hosted the University of Winnipeg Wesmen women’s volleyball team at the Investors Group Athletic Centre in a non-conference match.
The Bisons only used two of their usual starters, libero Julia Arnold and left-side/right-side Ella Gray, thus the reserves team had a chance, even though the game finished in favour of the Wesmen with set scores of 25-14, 20-25, 12-25, 26-24 and 15-11.
The Wesmen outperformed the Bisons in the opening set due to the herd getting off to a slower start, giving Wesmen a vulnerability to exploit. The Bisons women’s volleyball head coach Ken Bentley decided to call the game’s first two timeouts in an effort to rally his squad. Despite Bentley’s encouragements, the herd was unable to improve in the first set, losing 25-14 to the determined Wesmen.
As the second set got underway, the Bisons overtook the Wesmen, who had been controlling the game from the beginning. The Wesmen’s head coach Phil Hudson was forced to call his first timeout of the game as a result. However, Gray’s killshot right after the timeout further weakened the Wesmen and allowed the Bisons to take a larger lead.
The Wesmen made a fantastic comeback shortly after the Bisons’ dominant moment, nearly tying the Bisons’ lead before coach Bentley determined his side needed to alter their approach to avoid losing the set. Fortunately for the Bisons, this paid off as they won the set 25-20 after four points in a row.
In the third set, the Bisons maintained their fantastic play, taking a significant lead when coach Hudson called a timeout. This had no effect as the Bisons continued to dominate, thus, Hudson called his second timeout in the set. Nevertheless, the Wesmen were unable to contain the Bisons who won the set 25-12.
The hardest set of the evening was the fourth one, with the Wesmen vying for a tie and the Bisons aiming for a win. In the last two games, the Bisons became more formidable, displaying excellent skills and dexterity. After consistent close scores in the fourth set, both teams were tied at 24-24. Hudson called his team’s second and last timeout of the set as a result. That gave the Wesmen the motivation they needed to win two points, bringing the score to 26-24 and taking the set away from the Bisons.
With two sets won each by both teams, the match went to a tiebreaker. The close points continued further in the final set and again, the Wesmen were successful in scoring two points in a row after both teams returned from a Hudson-called timeout. In the end, the Wesmen won the game with a final set score of 15-11.
In a post-game interview, Arnold stated that, “we are a really good team with anybody on the court, so I didn’t approach [this game] any differently. I always know what I need to bring to the floor, and that doesn’t change whether or not it’s our starters or whether or not it’s this lineup. I didn’t approach it any differently. […] We were out to win, and winning matters to us, so this isn’t a light loss. We are not going to take it like, ‘oh well.’ So, we were out to win, and that’s what we do every time we play.”
Hudson noted that “[the Bisons’] libero played great again. She gets defensible and crazy. It was hard for our outsides. She just kept digging her. It was good. It was fun. Great to play a bit before we have a weekend off. It’s hard to get in a rhythm. It’s just hard to get in a rhythm because you’re playing and then you’re doing well and then you’ve got to sit out a weekend. […] We got a chance to get a match in against each other just to make sure we didn’t go two weeks without playing.”
The Bisons will face the Regina Cougars in a conference league game on Friday, Nov. 29 and Saturday, Nov. 30.
