The University of Winnipeg Wesmen basketball and volleyball teams were taken for a rough ride at the 2009 Duckworth Challenge, which ran Oct. 6 and 7, losing the tournament to the University of Manitoba Bisons.

The Duckworth Challenge is an annual competition that takes place between the cross-town rivals. Traditionally, the event has taken place during the basketball and volleyball teams’ regular seasons.

This year – its 19th – the Challenge was changed to a pre-season event. The Wesmen volleyball teams kicked things off in their home court at the Duckworth Centre on Oct. 6, while the basketball teams played at the Investor’s Group Athletic Centre the following evening.

In the opening match, the Bisons women’s volleyball team took the Wesmen in three sets: 25-12, 25-12, 25-21.

Although the Wesmen won the first two points in the first set, the Bisons came back strong. Bisons led 16-6 at the second technical time out and won the first set 25-12.

While the Wesmen fought back during the next two sets, they were unable to overcome the U of M team.

In the men’s volleyball match, the Wesmen started strong against the Bisons and took the first two sets 25-17 and 25-22. The Bisons fought back, however, and won the third set 18-25.

While the Wesmen never gave up, they were unable to regain control of the match, losing the fourth set 27-25 and the fifth set 15-13.

This meant it was up to the Wesmen basketball teams the following evening to keep the title of the Duckworth Challenge Champions with the University of Winnipeg. Unfortunately for the Wesmen, the Bisons defeated both the women’s and the men’s basketball teams, capturing the event 4-0.

It was the Wesmen Women’s first game of the pre-season and they trailed from the first hoop. Although the Wesmen managed to close the gap to 64-56 in the third-quarter, the Bisons stopped the run quickly and the final score was 88-69 Bisons.

“There were a lot of nerves when the game began. By the time we had overcome the nerves, we had dug ourselves into a deep hole which meant we were battling back the entire game,” said Player of the Game Catie Gooch, a fourth-year guard.

The last game of the challenge was the men’s basketball game.

The Wesmen started the game strong, said fourth-year Mike James.

“We were aggressive. We attacked the hoop, hit the boards and hit our shots.”

At halftime, the Wesmen were down 34-33, and came out strong in the third quarter. Unfortunately, the Bisons fought back hard and went on a run in the final quarter, to win the game 77-72.

Although the Bisons won the 2009 Duckworth Challenge, the Wesmen had held the title for the past three years. While it was a tough way for the Wesmen to kick-off their pre-season, the Wesmen are confident that they will be ready when regular season begins in late October.

“The [New England] Patriots always lose in pre-season,” said James.

Published in Volume 64, Number 7 of The Uniter (October 15, 2009)