Huskies Fall in Fifth Set

The Winnipeg Wesmen were granted an 11^th hour reprieve Saturday night.
 
For the second straight night, the Wesmen women’s volleyball team forced a fifth set, but unlike Friday, it swung the fortunes in its favour, holding off multiple match points to eventually down the Saskatchewan Huskies 3-2 (25-23, 12-25, 23-25, 25-23, 19-17) in a Canada West conference match at the Duckworth Centre.
 
The Huskies were sure they had the match won in the fifth set at 15-14 when Emily Lavallee’s swing went wide, but a Saskatchewan net violation gave the Wesmen new life.
 
All told, the Wesmen dodged four Saskatchewan match points in the fifth set and swung it ultimately in their favour after falling behind 17-16.
 
After Jessica Bergstrom planted a kill from the middle to give the Huskies their last lead, middle blocker Grace Vallis responded on the next sequence with a triumphant kill of her own to tie it. Taryn Hannah then put an attack into the middle of the net to make it 18-17 Winnipeg and her next swing went into a Wesmen block that the Huskies couldn’t scramble to save.
 
The 149-minute match that featured a combined 156 digs and 122 kills ended with the Wesmen snapping a four-match losing streak and improving to 6-8 to stay in eighth place in the conference.
 
The Huskies, meanwhile, fell to 8-8 and remain in seventh.
 
Vallis had a season-high 16 kills to lead the Wesmen, who hit .141 for the night. She added five block assists and five digs. Selva Planincic and Lavallee both had 13 kills.
 
Taylor Cangemi had a match-high 19 digs, one of three U of W players in double digits. Brooke Duncalfe had 13 and Megan Kendziora, making her first start of the season, added 11 digs.
 
The Huskies were led by Hannah’s 26 kills while Rosetta Cyr had 17 and Keely Anderson 13. Hannah also had a team-high 18 digs, one of four Huskies in double digits. Cyr added 18, Gabrielle Flaman had 16, and Tielle Hagel 15.