By Danielle Doiron

The Bison women's volleyball team is still looking for their first win this season after losing their fifth straight by a 3-2 (20-25, 26-24, 25-15, 22-25, 6-15) score to the MacEwan University Griffins Friday, October 30 night at Investors Group Athletic Centre.
 
With the loss, the Bisons are now 0-5, while the Griffins broke their two-game loss streak and improved to 3-2 with the win.
 
MacEwan's Cassidy Kinsella led both teams with 22 kills. Manitoba's Jordana Milne had the next closest total with 15 in the losing effort.
 
The Bisons looked disorganized through the first set, and the Griffins found the holes on the court. MacEwan maintained a slight advantage through the set, and brought the game to match point. The home side held them off for a rally but couldn't put up enough points to win, and the Griffins claimed the first set 25-20.
 
Better court coverage in the second helped the Bisons to an early lead, but they couldn't hold on. The Griffins closed the scoring gap after Manitoba gave up consecutive points on sloppy serve receptions midway through the set. The Bisons scrambled through the next few rallies and allowed the Griffins to tie the game and then bring the second to set point, but the Bisons weren't done yet. The home side stayed alive, fought back and won the set 26-24.
 
Manitoba carried the momentum from their set win to the third. The teams went point-for-point until the Bisons broke out with a commanding 20-12 lead. Manitoba brought the game to match point, and Tori Studler buried a kill in the back right corner of the Griffins' court to win the set 25-15 for the Bisons.
 
But MacEwan retaliated in the fourth. The teams closely battled through the first half of the set. The Griffins broke away with a 16-13 lead, but Milne kept the Bisons in the game with a solid kill that gave Manitoba back the serve. Sarah Klassen added a couple kills for the Bisons, but MacEwan sent the game to match point and won the set 25-22.
 
Milne opened the fifth with a hard-hitting kill to loud cheers from the home crowd, but the Griffins responded and took a 6-3 lead soon after. From there, the Bisons couldn't regain momentum and eventually lost the tiebreaking set 15-6 and the game 3-2 for the third time this season.
 
The Bisons will look for their first win of the season when they play the Griffins Saturday at 4:30 p.m. CT at Investors Group Athletic Centre.