The University of Winnipeg Wesmen won their first match of the 2016-17 Canada West regular season with a dramatic five set (22-25, 25-23, 16-25, 25-16, 15-11) victory over their provincial rivals the Brandon University Bobcats Friday evening at the Dr. David F. Anderson Gymnasium in Winnipeg.

Winnipeg (1-9) was led by the duo of Alex Rose and Maria Colvin each finishing the match with 12 kills. Colvin also led the team in blocks with five. Karissa Kuhr added 11 kills, nine digs and two service aces. Madison Fyvie led the team in digs with 14.

The Bobcats (2-8) got a match high 14 kills from Rayvn Wiebe. Courtney Roberts had 13 kills while Jodie Baker finished with 11 kills and five blocks. Gillian Leech led Brandon with 12 digs.

Brandon started the contest on the right foot showing their offensive touch, finishing the set with a hitting percentage of .343 while committing only three attacking errors. The Bobcats also took advantage of seven Wesmen attacking errors on their way to a 25-22 opening set win.

Winnipeg evened the match taking set number two by a margin of 25-23. Brandon regained control of the match winning the third set in easy fashion at 25-16.

In the fourth set Winnipeg jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead and held off the Bobcats charge to take a 16-13 lead into the technical timeout. Winnipeg continued to roll, outscoring Brandon 9-3 down the stretch to win the set 25-16 and forcing a fifth and deciding set.

Winnipeg once again got off to a great start in the fifth set. Three kills by Karissa Kuhr and strong serving by Danika Picklyk paced Winnipeg to an early 7-2 lead. Brandon went on a run of their own and cut the lead to 12-11 but kills by Kuhr and Maria Colvin gave Winnipeg a 14-11 lead. Winnipeg won the match after Brandon was issued a red card making the final set score 15-11.

Winnipeg will close out the first half next Wednesday against Manitoba at the U of M. Brandon will next see action on Jan 6, 2017 against Alberta.



Note: Women's Volleyball player Alex Rose and Men's Volleyball player Nolan Parrington were the recpients of the David F. Anderson Scholarship Awards. The presentation was made prior to the women's match with Dustin Ross (grandson of Dr, Anderson) and Dave Crook (UW Athletic Director).