Box Score In a classic match-up between two of the top teams in the country, the University of Manitoba Bisons claimed bragging rights on this night. Manitoba defeated the University of Winnipeg Wesmen 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-17) in the men's volleyball portion of the 25th Annual Duckworth Challenge Thursday evening in the Dr. David F. Anderson Gymnasium.
The #4 ranked Bisons improve their record to 15-4. The #5 ranked Wesmen sees their six match winning streak come to an end and sits with a record of 13-6.
Devren Dear led the attack for Manitoba finishing with a match high 14 kills and shared the team high in digs with five. Josh Goossen and Adam DeJonckheere were next with seven kills each. Ken Rooney and Josh Crelin each had four blocks.
Third year outside hitter David Bommersbach led the Wesmen with 12 kills and four digs. Brendan Black added nine kills and three blocks. Setter Josh Mckay had 27 assists, two service aces and four digs.
The beginning of the opening match told the story that a classic battle was brewing between the two rivals. The teams battled and exchanged points to 10-10 early on. Winnipeg on a kill by Taylor Howe went into the technical timeout leading 16-14. Winnipeg held a 22-21 lead late until Manitoba scored four of the next five points to take the opening set by a slim 25-23 margin.
Set number two started out as a carbon copy of the opening set. The teams battled to a score of 11-11 early on and this time Manitoba surged ahead to take a 16-15 lead at the technical break. A kill by David Bommersbach late in the set tied the score at 23-23 until Manitoba scored the final two points, one on a Winnipeg error and followed that up with a kill by Devren Dear to win the second set 25-23.
Manitoba carried their momentum into the third set leading 16-12 at the technical break before closing out the match by a score of 25-17 in the final set of the match.
Devren Dear (Manitoba) and Josh McKay (Winnipeg) were named the Duckworth Challenge Players of the Game.
The two teams will wrap up their home and home series on Saturday afternoon with a 4:30 p.m. start at the University of Manitoba.
