Despite the disheartening loss in Brandon recently, the Wesmen men’s volleyball team came back strong on Saturday, Jan. 10.

Unlike the game on Thursday, Jan. 8 where the Wesmen lost 3-1, it was the Brandon Bobcats who faced the wrath of the Duckworth Centre audience this time around.

The Wesmen (7-3) came back on Saturday to take back a win from the Bobcats (6-4) in four sets (20-25, 25-20, 25-22, 25-23).

The opening set looked to be a repeat for Brandon. While Winnipeg kept it close, the Wesmen staggered down the stretch and the Bobcats took the first set 25-20.

After that the Wesmen turned it around. Middle Justin Duff scored his second of three aces in the second set which led Winnipeg to the 25-20 win.

“ We lost a big game on Thursday and we weren’t going to let that happen tonight.

Paul Kjos, U of W volleyball team

“I just wanted to do the best I could out there,” said Duff, who also finished with a team high of five blocks.

The home team supremacy did not stop there as Winnipeg continued to not let up. In the third set, Winnipeg held leads as big as seven points en route to a 25-22 win.

The fourth set was more of a ping-pong match that had Brandon leading 12-10 at one point. However, Paul Kjos responded with two sensational blocks to tie the game up once again.

“We lost a big game on Thursday and we weren’t going to let that happen tonight,” said fifth year Kjos. He ended the game with 11 kills.

It was Andrew Town’s performance that lifted the Wesmen out of the stalemate. Between his smash off a block, his kill after a Brandon timeout, and his game-winning kill, it would be hard to choose a single highlight. Nevertheless, Town helped Winnipeg close out the fourth set 25-23, as well as the entire match.

Despite the win, the Wesmen are still focusing one game at a time.

“We’re not worried about the playoffs right now,” said Town, who finished with 19 kills and 10 digs.

“We still have a few tough matches coming up that we need to get through first.”

In women’s action, the team was defeated in straight sets on both Thursday night in Brandon (25-13, 25-15, 25-14) and Saturday night in Winnipeg (25-23, 25-19, 25-16).

The men’s and women’s volleyball teams play against the Calgary Dinos next weekend. The women play at the Duckworth Centre on Friday, Jan. 16 at 7 p.m., while the men travel to Calgary.

Published in Volume 63, Number 16 of The Uniter (January 15, 2009)