EDMONTON — Though they will come home without a win from the weekend, safe to say, the Winnipeg Wesmen put forward their better selves Saturday night. 

The No. 3-ranked Wesmen men's volleyball team shook off a 2-1 deficit and forced an epic fifth set only to suffer a 3-2 (25-17, 18-25, 25-19, 20-25, 24-22) Canada West conference loss to the Alberta Golden Bears, the No. 2-ranked team in the country.

A night after a listless straight-sets loss in a highly-anticipated match between two of U Sports best, the Wesmen were a resilient group Saturday, pushing the Bears to the brink in the longest match in the Canada West this season.

The Wesmen fought off three Alberta match points in the fifth, extending the set into extra points before taking a 17-16 lead of their own. The Wesmen then had three cracks at closing things out before Alberta flipped the side-out trade-off by taking a 20-19 lead. The Wesmen would go ahead again at 22-21 on a Nigel Nielsen kill, but the Bears closed things out with three-point run started with a Billy Johnstone kill and finished with back-to-back blocks. 

Winnipeg fell to 5-3 ahead of another pivotal weekend when the Wesmen host 5-3 Brandon for two matches at the Duckworth Centre. 

Liam Kristjanson had a team-high 16 kills and hit .520, while Nielsen finished with 15 kills and six digs. Isaiah Olfert added 10 kills. 

Carson Brennan had a match-high 13 digs, with setter Alek Krykewich chipping in 10.

The Bears' block was a big factor, with Alberta outblocking Winnipeg 28-8.

Isaac Heslinga had 24 kills to lead the way for the Bears (7-3). Johnstone finished with 11 and Jacob Sargent 10. Marek Edwards had a team-high 10 digs. 

Winnipeg hit .256 on the night while the Bears attacked at .270. 

Tickets for the Nov. 24-25 weekend are now available online at wesmen.ca/tickets.