BRANDON - The Brandon University Bobcats and the Saskatchewan Huskies worked overtime on Friday night at the Healthy Living Centre with the road team coming out on top.
Saskatchewan edged Brandon in a marathon five-set barnburner to begin the second half of the Canada West men's volleyball season.
The set scores were 32-30, 24-26, 24-26, 25-11 and 17-15.
The Bobcats staved off numerous set points in the first, but dropped the opening set 32-30.
Brandon then took the advantage in the match after winning the next two sets in extra points.
The Huskies grabbed momentum early in the fourth set and held a 16-6 lead at the technical timeout and forced a fifth and final set with a 25-11 victory.
The fifth set saw the Bobcats take command early with a 5-1 lead and they were up 8-5 at the turn.
The match then reached a fever pitch with Brandon on the verge of victory at 14-13.
Saskatchewan would rally and staved off match point twice to pick up the win and improve their record to 7-and-6.
The Bobcats dropped to 4-and-9, but they got another stellar showing from captain
Roy Ching, who collected a career-high 29 kills.
Ching's collection of kills also puts him into the school record books for the second most in a single match, an honour he shares with former Bobcat great Paul Sanderson, who also holds the record for most kills in a match with 36.
"I think we were just a little inconsistent. It shows that we haven't played a real competition game in a while. We just could not sustain leads for more then a few points or a set," said Ching. "I think guys stepped up and improved their game over the break. There is a lot to look forward to in the coming games when we get more in rhythm as a team. I think the results may go our way a little more."
Bruce Akubukaka added 11 kills in a losing cause, while
Jeremy Davies topped the match with 19 digs for BU.
Tyler Epp led the way with 19 kills for the Huskies, while teammates Robert Graham got nine blocks and CJ Gavlas collected a whopping 63 assists, both were match highs.
The Bobcats and Huskies are back at it on Saturday night with the rematch scheduled for a 6:45 p.m. start.
