The Bisons men’s volleyball team won against the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in three straight sets (25-20, 25-20 and 25-17) in the league semifinals, and lost 3-1 (19-25, 25-23, 13-25 and 25-27) to the Trinity Western University Spartans in the final.
On Friday, March 6, in the game against the Thunderbirds, the Bisons started strong with a 3-0 lead in the first set. At 7-6, they scored four consecutive points to take an 11-6 lead. Both teams traded points, and the Bisons won 25-20.
In the second set, the Thunderbirds struck first, but the Bisons tied and scored two more points to take a 3-1 lead. The Thunderbirds scored one more point to make it 3-2, but the Bisons scored three more consecutive points to increase their lead to 6-2. At 8-4, the Bisons scored four more consecutive points to reach 12-4.
The Thunderbirds tried to bounce back, scoring four consecutive points from 7-18 to 11-18 and from 12-19 to 16-19, but it was not enough. The Bisons took charge again, scoring four consecutive points to take a 24-17 lead and won the set 25-20.
In the third set, the Thunderbirds struck first again, but the Bisons responded with double points. Both teams traded points back and forth. The Bisons started creating a margin, scoring three consecutive points from 8-7 to 11-7 and scored six consecutive points from 11-8 to 17-8. The gap was too much for the Thunderbirds to catch up to, and the Bisons won 25-17.
On Saturday, March 7, the Bisons lost to the Trinity Western Spartans in the conference final. In the first set, the Bisons started strong, winning the first two points. The Spartans responded with two points to tie the score. Both teams traded points until the Spartans scored five points to take a 10-5 lead. Despite the Bisons’ attempt to tie the score after scoring four points, they only closed the gap to 24-19. The Spartans won 25-19.
The Bisons bounced back from the loss in the second set. They scored four consecutive points after the Spartans struck first. The Bisons refused a tie in this set and eventually won the Spartans 25-23.
The Spartans struck first again in the third set, and after the Bisons tied the score [1-1], the Spartans scored three consecutive points to take a 4-1 lead. Soon after, they scored eight consecutive points from 5-3 to take a 13-3 lead. The margin became too much for the Bisons to tally with, so they lost 13-25.
In the fourth set, the Spartans scored the first two points. The Bisons came back to take a 4-3 lead, and both teams started trading points. The Spartans thought they had a comfortable lead at 23-20, but the Bisons came back to score four consecutive points to take a 24-23 lead. The teams traded points until a 25-24 lead for the Bisons. The Spartans eventually won after scoring three consecutive points to achieve 27-25 in their favour.
