DAVID LARKINS, Wesmen Athletics

The Winnipeg Wesmen are going into the holiday break on a winning note.

Daniel Thiessen had six of his team-high 22 kills in the fifth set and the Wesmen men's volleyball team outlasted the MacEwan Griffins in a 3-2 (21-25, 28-26, 25-20, 18-25, 15-12) Canada West conference victory Saturday in Edmonton. 

Thiessen tied a season-high for kills in leading four Wesmen players in double figures while adding 11 digs for his third double-double of the season.

Adrian Dyck had 14 kills and 11 digs, and Garrett Jones and Ethan Duncan both had season-highs for kills with 13 and 12, respectively. Both added three total blocks apiece, as did setter Mikael Clegg, who put up a season-high 58 assists, which is the second most in the Canada West this season. Duncan also added 12 digs for his first double-double of the season. 

"A win in our standings is important at any time of the season, so this one isn't any more important just because of the timing of it," Winnipeg head coach Larry McKay said. "They're a really good team. Brad (Poplawski) has done really well here. That's a very good team for us to play against.

"As you can see, essentially we're tied with them – lost last night in five and win tonight in five."

The Wesmen moved to 4-6 in closing out the first semester, bouncing back from a five-set defeat a night earlier.

"We still kind of felt the pain of losing (Friday) night, definitely," said Thiessen, who leads Winnipeg with 120 kills this season. "I think we brought that fire into the fifth set (Saturday)."

Max Vriend set a MacEwan program record with 28 kills in the loss, as the Griffins fell to 3-9. Kai Hesthammer added 17 kills for the Griffins, while Jordan Peters chipped in 16.

—#REPTHEW—

—With files from MacEwan Athletics