Bisons stun T-Birds to advance to CW Final

Recap by UBC Sports Information, Photos by Vamsi Nadella 

VANCOUVER – A week after knocking the UBC Okanagan Heat out of the playoffs on the road in the Canada West Quarterfinals, the Manitoba Bisons travelled to Vancouver to take on the No. 1 nationally-ranked UBC Thunderbirds in the opening match of the Canada West Final Four.

Not only did the Bisons snap the T-Birds' 28-match home winning streak, but they did it in emphatic fashion, sweeping the hosts 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-17) in front of a stunned War Memorial Gym crowd.

"We had a really intense preparation," said Manitoba Bisons head coach Arnd Ludwig. "There are some tendencies that UBC has and I also don't think they've faced a team that blocks as strong as we do, we really keyed on the block which I think rattled them a little. I think also there was a lot of pressure on them tonight and we we're able to play completely free."

While the Bisons finished with one fewer kill than the T-Birds, they dominated defensively with 11 blocks and held the conference's leader in hitting percentage to a measly .074, by far their lowest single-game mark of the season. The Thunderbirds also suffered at the service line, committing 15 errors with just one ace.

Karil Dadash Adeh was named the Player of the Game for Manitoba, as he put up an efficient seven kills and four digs. Owen Weekes tallied 10 kills, two digs and two blocks, while Sammy Ludwig dished out 25 assists to go with eight digs and four blocks.

Reeve Gingera led the way for UBC with 12 kills and two digs, while Mason Greves recorded 27 assists, six digs and three blocks. One of the few bright spots for UBC on the night was the return of Gavin Moes, who played off the bench in his first action in two months and had three kills.

Both teams had their best hitting efficiency of the night in the opening set, with the Bisons jumping out to the early lead with a series of kills from Weekes and Eric Ogaranko. 

Despite a push in the middle portion of the frame led by Alex Borowski – which included UBC's lone ace of the night – the Bisons were able to just barely keep their noses in front. The closest the T-Birds got was cutting the deficit to a single point at 18-17, but from there Manitoba scored eight of the final 12 points to take the set.

The second was even more lopsided to begin, with the Bisons going up by as many as 11 points as they dominated from the jump. A series of solo blocks from Ludwig and Jonah Dueck tilted the momentum fully in their favour, as they put UBC in a big hole.

The 'Birds did their best to battle their way back into things, and did manage to cut the lead down to just three points with a 10-2 run that had the crowd roaring their support. But the Bisons were able to regroup after a timeout and closed out the frame with poise, putting themselves in prime position heading into the third.

While the two teams were even in the early period of the final set, the Bisons were able to pull away following a number of Thunderbird errors. Consecutive blocks from the duo of Weekes and Dueck put their team up 16-8 and in full control, and the visitors never looked back from there.

"We had a really tough first half of the year where we lost six matches," added Ludwig. "We had a complete reset between Christmas and New Years, we worked a lot with a sports psychologist and I think everything comes into place right now. This isn't the first time we've faced adversity, we really have worked the whole season, we prepare for the next opponent and the guys are really completely dialed in right now. I'm so proud of these guys how they can actually execute the game plan that we have."

The result means that the Bisons will battle for Canada West gold at 6:00 p.m. (PT) on Saturday night in Vancouver, aiming for their first conference championship since 2003. The T-Birds, meanwhile, will play for Canada West bronze for the third straight season in the first half of Saturday's action at 4:00 p.m. (PT), inside War Memorial Gym.