CIS women's volleyball nationals: Bisons trample Varsity Blues in straight-sets

Pete Yee

Despite some initial butterflies, the University of Manitoba Bisons were able to shrug them off and topple the sixth-seeded Toronto Varsity Blues in straight sets (25–21, 25–20, 25–19) to book their spot in the semifinal round.

Thanks to a total team effort the Bisons, runner-ups to UBC at last weekend’s Canada West Championship, they were able to put down the feisty OUA squad.

“Emotionally, we were a little jittery early, but we eventually settled down nicely,” Bisons head coach Ken Bentley conceded.

“Only three players have been to this tournament before, but we have a lot of kids win championships, so its not like they're strangers to such an environment.”

Each set remained extremely tight up until around the second technical timeout, when the Bisons took control with fantastic blocking and timely attacks.

In the third set, however, Manitoba used an incredible hitting display to finish off the V-Blues. The Bisons successfully tallied 15 kills against a single attack error for a 48.3 per cent attack in the final set.

Much of the damage done by the Bisons came off the hand of Tricia Mayba. The third-year architecture student led her squad with 10 kills. She also contributed defensively with a quartet of digs and block assists.

“We have two of the best middle players in the country, especially Tricia because she is such a great attacker,” Bentley remarked.

Defensively, the Bisons predominantly used a double-blocking set to thwart off many of Toronto’s offensive attacks. However, V-Blues’ First Team CIS All-Star Heather Bansley did her best to keep her team in the game with a game-high 13 kills.

“Early on, our blocking was not in the position we wanted it to be in, but after a while we started to defend quite well,” Bentley said.

Manitoba now awaits to see if they will be pitted against the undefeated Montreal Carabins or the hometown Pandas in Saturday’s 8 p.m. semifinal.