Key runs at critical times helped the Winnipeg Wesmen knock off the Manitoba Bisons in Match 1 of the best-of-three Canada West men's volleyball quarter-final series Thursday at the Duckworth Centre.
Isaiah Olfert had a match-high 15 kills and the Wesmen earned a 3-1 (25-19, 20-25, 25-22, 25-21) victory and a chance to wrap the series on Friday (7 p.m.) for a spot in the conference Final Four.
The No. 1-seeded Wesmen certainly got nothing easy from the No. 8 Bisons, who advanced to this week's series with a sweep of UBC-Okanagan in the play-in series.
"The Wesmen-Bison matchup always brings out the best in both teams," Winnipeg head coach Chris Voth said. "It was a really fun environment and I'm really happy we were able to pull it out.
"First playoff game, there's always a lot of emotions and a lot of tension and they were able to overcome that and still execute fairly well."
The Bisons hung tough through the first set and had it tied at 18 before the Wesmen reeled off seven of the next eight points. The Bisons made five attack errors and a service error as part of a 6-0 Winnipeg run that broke the tie and put the home team in control.
In Set 2, the Bisons used a run of their own to get themselves level in the match, winning five of six points to turn a 16-15 advantage into a 21-16 stranglehold.
The Bisons looked prime to keep that momentum in their favour, opening a 10-7 lead in the third and forcing a Wesmen timeout. The Wesmen went from tentative to tenacious coming out of the break, winning four straight and six of seven to get back on top, 13-11 and Winnipeg would not trail again.
The Bisons rallied early in Set 4 with four out of five points that gave them a 13-12 lead. From there, the Wesmen had an immediate response, scoring five out of the next six to take a 17-14 lead. After Manitoba pulled to within one, the Wesmen then broke off four straight points to grab a 21-16 lead.
"I think Winnipeg, at the end of the sets, they just played a little cleaner," Manitoba head coach Lupo Ludwig said. "We made a lot of errors on not really great balls at the end of the sets, especially the first (set). It was 17-17 and we ended up with four or five errors in a row and that really cost us the set.
"The second set, we played better, we came out, we were more consistent. The momentum in volleyball it's always up and down. We did not force it enough in Sets 3 and 4."
Luke Lodewyks added 13 kills and was one of three Wesmen with a team-high nine digs. Libero
Carson Brennan and setter
Ben Traa both had nine, as well.
The Wesmen hit .248 on the night and held the Bisons to .169 attacking.
Karl Dadash Adeh's 12 kills paced the Bisons, who got 10 kills from freshman Owen Weekes and a match-high 16 digs from libero Josh Jehle.