CALGARY – The Brandon Bobcats defeated the Mount Royal Cougars 3-1 (29-27, 21-25, 25-23, 31-29) on Friday night on Kenyon Court. Brandon's Roy Ching led all scorers with 23.5 points in the match. His counterpart Riley Friesen led Mount Royal with 23.0 points.  

Athleticism was on full display from both sides in the first set. It what may have been the most evenly matched sets of all-time, the Cougars and Bobcats traded spectacular kills and never-ending rallies.

Mount Royal held the biggest lead of the set at 22-18. After a Brandon timeout, the Cougars began to crumble, ceding four straight points to the Bobcats before calling a timeout of their own. Reece Dixon had earned a kill to give Brandon set point. Matt Saly then put the ball into the net, handing Brandon the first set 29-27.

Brandon capitalized off a number of Mount Royal errors early in the second set to take a 13-9 lead. The Cougars regrouped and went on a strong run to take the lead for the first time in the set. Mount Royal led 22-19 and looked to be in firm control of the set. Brandon was on serve down 24-21 but couldn't put down a kill. The ball was set up for Cougars' rookie Scott Gieske who made no mistake, burying the kill to even that match at one.

Brandon galloped out to a 4-0 lead to start the third set. They were in firm control of the set, leading 16-8 at the technical timeout. The Cougars used the technical timeout to regroup and get themselves back in the game, scoring four points to close the gap to 16-12. 

The momentum swung dramatically in Mount Royal's favour as it was Brandon who began to start making mistakes. The Cougars went on a 10-4 run to take a late-set lead, forcing Brandon to take their second timeout. Brandon was not deterred as they fought back scoring with Reece Dixon on serve. Brandon scored five of the next six points, capped off by a Matt Powell kill to steal the set right out from under the Cougars, 25-23.

Down 2-1 in the match, Mount Royal started the fourth set 11-8 before Brandon called a timeout. Much like the first three sets, this one was going to be close. Tied at 19, Matt Saly delivered a kill to give Mount Royal a one-point lead.  

Brandon tied the set at 22 and then forced Mount Royal into an attacking error to take a 23-22 lead, late in the match. Tyler Schmidt got the Cougars back into it with a bomb down the middle. The teams went back and forth trading points and like the first set, this one needed extra points. Tied at 29, Roy Ching delivered a kill to put

Brandon up 30-29. After another tremendous rally, Elliot Viles finally put the game away, ending one of the best matches in recent memory.
Mount Royal drops to 10-9 after the loss. Brandon improves their record to 12-9 and move into sole possession of fifth spot in the conference.

The two teams will go back at it tomorrow evening to finish off the weekend set. Start time is scheduled for 6:00pm MST on Kenyon Court.