Bisons take the ‘W’ on Wesmen home court

Wesmen men’s volleyball team lose season opener to cross-town rivals

The Wesmen men’s volleyball team fell to the Manitoba Bisons in four sets last weekend as they kicked off their season with a loss. 

They came out strong and took the first set, but in the second set the energy shifted in the Bisons’ favour. Manitoba took the lead early and were up 16-9 at the second timeout. Refusing to give up, the Wesmen battled back to 24-23, but were unable to answer a kill from Bison Dane Pischke, which ended the set 25-23.

Fourth-year, left-side Marc Ross noted that the Wesmen were missing key veterans, Matt Schriemer and Dan Lother, in their line-up on Saturday night. Both athletes are out due to injuries, which means that younger players need to step up early in their careers. 

“We played well enough to win the first set,” he said. “But in the end our lack of experience showed.”

In the third and fourth sets, the Bisons took over. They stole a strong lead after the first timeout of the third set and the Wesmen were unable to recover. The fourth set was similar and the Bisons won the match 3-1. 

Some players are taking the loss as an opportunity for the team to become better.

“We are going to have to learn from this and use it to help us beat U of Calgary this weekend,” Wesmen second-year, left-side Matt Stubler said, reflecting on the defeat.

Head coach Larry McKay agreed and remarked that the Wesmen need to continue to work hard in practices to see results in upcoming matches.

McKay noted that the young team is still learning and improving with every practice and every match.   

“We showed improved play since our last match versus Brandon and since our previous match versus Manitoba,” he said. 

The Wesmen travel to Calgary next weekend to play against the Calgary Dinos at the University of Calgary.

Published in Volume 65, Number 10 of The Uniter (November 4, 2010)

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