By: Matt Packwood, Brandon University Athletics
BRANDON – The Brandon Bobcats picked up where they left off on Tuesday against the Winnipeg Wesmen, picking up a straight sets victory thanks to a strong serving game and dominating at the net on defence.
Brandon never trailed in the two team's final match of the first half of the Canada West conference season, winning in straight sets 3-0 (25-14, 25-21, 25-14).
The first set was all Brandon as the Bobcats put up 13 kills with just one error, good for an .364 attack efficiency.
Winnipeg answered the bell in the second set, trading blows on offense before Brandon rattled off a 5-1 run to close out the second set 25-21.
The third saw Brandon go on an early 6-0 run that was quickly answered by a run by Winnipeg to tie it at 10-10, but the Bobcats finished the way they started by concluding the set and the match on a 10-2 run.
Much like Tuesday night in Winnipeg, the Bobcats put the Wesmen under pressure all night from the service line. Brandon had 11 service aces to Winnipeg's one.
Defensively the Bobcats put up far more pressure at the net, recording 18 blocks to the Wesmen's nine, and on the offensive side Brandon hit at a .191 attack efficiency to Winnipeg's .043.
"I think it was a really good match in that we didn't have to rely on anyone. Nikala kinda dominated the scoring on Tuesday and it was really nice and Sami Love had a great night and Danielle Larocque played tremendous in the middle and found ways to score and Rayvn always gets her kills and I think it's really important that we find a way to distribute the ball and we did that tonight," says interim head coach Kevin Neufeld.
Fourth-year outside hitter Nikala Majewski led the Bobcats with nine kills and 15 digs while rookie libero Caitlin Le finished with 12 digs. Playing in just her fifth conference match at home as a Bobcat, Dauphin, Man. product Sami Love had an impressive eight kills on just 18 swings, good for a .333 hitting percentage to go with six blocks.
Emma Parker paced the Wesmen with nine kills while Kalena Schulz had six kills to go with 11 digs.
With the win the Bobcats improve to 7-5 on the season. Winnipeg falls to 1-11 as the two teams enter the December break before resuming in the New Year. Winnipeg will head to Langley to play the Trinity Western Spartans on Jan. 5 while the Bobcats will travel to Calgary to play the U of C Dinos on Jan. 12.
Photo courtesy Milana Paddock
Both of those matches can be seen on www.canadawest.tv.