The Manitoba Bisons completed a Canada West women's volleyball weekend sweep with a four-set victory over the Regina Cougars on Saturday night at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.
The match followed a similar script to Friday's meeting between the two teams. Just like on Friday, Manitoba (2-4) started out with a first-set victory before the Cougars tied it up with a win in the second set. And the similarities didn't end there, as Manitoba then claimed back-to-back wins in the third and fourth to take a 3-1 win for the second straight night.
Four different Manitoba players ended up with at least 12 kills in the win, with Kearley Abbott and Allison Alcock both tying for the match high with 13 and Laura Hill and Keziah Hoeppner adding 12 apiece. Abbott added 18 digs, while Hill and Hoeppner both had 12 digs as all three players registered double-doubles. Hoppner, Grace Van Der Meer, and Alcock all had five blocks, while libero Julia Arnold piled up a match-high 29 digs and even got credit for a kill in the fourth set.
Diana Lumbala (12 kills, 12 digs) and
Britt Davis (11 kills, 16 digs) both had double-doubles, while
Elizabeth Tooth finished with 34 assists and
Sierra Parris-Kruger had a team-leading 20 digs for Regina (1-5).
Manitoba, which finished with 92 digs, won the first set 25-19 before the Cougars came back with a 25-23 win in the second. The Bisons took the third by a 25-19 score, then hit .400 as a team in the fourth set which they won by a 25-20 margin.
The Bisons will now prepare for a stern test against the top-ranked team in the country, as they'll play host to a Trinity Western team that's a perfect 6-0 with only one set lost in conference play. Those two matches are scheduled for next Friday and Saturday in Winnipeg.
Regina is back in action next weekend with a pair of matches against Thompson Rivers in Kamloops.