Bisons defeat Heat in four sets to win thrilling Canada West quarter-final series

KELOWNA, B.C. – The U SPORTS No. 8-ranked Manitoba Bisons overcame the No. 4-ranked UBCO Heat in four sets on Sunday night to win Game 3 in a wildly entertaining best-of-three Canada West quarter-final series at the UBCO Gymnasium.

In another tightly-contested match between the Heat and Bisons, the turning point in the game and the series was a 6-0 run Manitoba put together trailing 24-20 in the second set. That would give the visitors a two-sets-to-none lead and they would go on to close out the series two sets later to advance to the Canada West Final Four.

"I think just getting the serves in in that moment," said Bisons head coach Arnd 'Lupo' Ludwig on how Manitoba was able to rally in the moment. "I think Jonah [Dueck] did a great job getting the serves into the seams. They struggled a little bit with the passes and then all of a sudden, we were in the lead."

Owen Weekes was once again the focal point of the Manitoba offence as he finished with 14 kills, five aces and five blocks for a game-high 22 points. However, the Bisons offence was much more balanced on the night as three of his teammates also hit double-figures for kills including Karil Dadash Adeh with 12, Jordon Heppner with 11 and Jonah Dueck with 10. Sammy Ludwig effectively ran the offence, finishing with 48 assists.

For the Heat, Australian transfer Xander van Driel recorded a game-high 17 kills and finished with 18.5 points. Thys Weststrate added 14 kills, four blocks and an ace for 17.5 points. In his final game with the Heat, UBCO all-time assists leader Zach van Geel posted 43 assists.

With all to play for in this do-or-die game three, the Bisons came out as the steadier team in front of another hostile crowd of 1317 spectators, the highest total of the series. After exchanging the first 12 points, Manitoba started to pull away slowly but surely as they ran through their middles Heppner and Dueck. The pair combined for nine kills in the opening frame, led by Dueck's six, as the Bisons combined to hit 0.378 to take the opening frame 25-21.

"Well, that was something that we talked this morning in the video session," commented Ludwig on winning the first set for the first time in the series. "We said, guys, two games in a row, we just come out, we make nothing big wrong but a lot of smaller errors or smaller things that are not right. We just didn't follow game plan 100 percent. And we said this time we have to go right from the beginning, guys. We cannot afford to get the crowd in and I think it was nice, we had the crowd quiet after the first set and this is what you want."

The second set saw some wild swings of momentum back and forth between the two teams. After a call went against the Heat at 10-10, a quick run by Manitoba gave them a 14-11 lead. 

Heat head coach Scott Koskie used his first timeout and it swung the momentum back in favour of UBCO who ran through Weststrate to build a 21-18 advantage. 

The Heat would push the match to 24-20 but the Bisons upped their defensive intensity, keeping multiple balls alive and eventually erasing a deficit after a Dueck ace. Manitoba would then force back-to-back errors by the Heat to stun the home crowd and take a 2-0 lead with a 26-24 second set win.

With their backs against the wall to start the third, the Heat took advantage of a nervous Bisons team who committed four attack errors in the first 12 points as UBCO stormed to an 8-4 lead. UBCO would continue to push on offence and scramble on defence, highlighted by a big point at 19-14 that resulted in van Driel's 14th kill of the match to go up six. However, Manitoba would claw their way back to 24-23 but a Weeks service error extend the match with UBCO claiming a 25-23 set win.

"It would have been easy in that moment with all the emotions of everything to kind of take a knee, but we showed who we were all year long," said Koskie on his team's resilience to extend the match. "We stepped forward and we gave everything we had, and I'm super proud of that set."

However, the Bisons would not be denied in the fourth. Led by Weekes and a tenacious defence, the Bisons pulled away from the Heat early. Weeks would finish the set with five kills as Manitoba hit 0.424 in the frame to earn the series win with a 25-18 set victory. 

Manitoba joins the UBC Thunderbirds, the Trinity Western Spartans and the Alberta Golden Bears to battle it out for the Canada West Championship next weekend, March 6 to 7, in Vancouver.