The University of Winnipeg Wesmen defeated the Mount Royal University Cougars 3-2 (25-22, 20-25, 22-25, 25-22, 15-9) in a weekend series opening battle Friday night in Calgary, Alberta.

The win lifts  Winnipeg's record to 14-7. The Cougars with the loss fall below .500 to 10-11.

David Bommersbach led the Wesmen with 17 kills to go along with 10 defensive digs. Middle blocker Brendan Black added 16 kills and seven blocks. Taylor Howe finished with 14 kills while Brendan Thielmann added 10 kills.

Tyler Schmidt led the Cougars with 24 kills and 13 defensive digs. Jordan Parkin had 20 kills to go along with 11 digs.

Winnipeg gained the upper hand early on winning the opening set by a close 25-22 margin. Winnipeg was efficient finishing the set with a hitting percentage of .452 with only three attacking errors.

The Cougars climbed back into the match winning the second set by a score of 25-20 and took a 2-1 lead in thematch taking the third set 25-22.

The visiting Wesmen came back in the fourth set and once again efficient hitting was the key. The Wesmen committed only one attacking error to finish with a hitting percentage of .480 on their way to a 25-22 set victory to tie the match at 2-2, forcing a fifth set.

Winnipeg completed the comeback winning the fifth set by a score of 15-9.

The two teams will wrap up their weekend series Saturday night in the early match of the evening. Start time is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.