January 19 - With temperatures outside in Winnipeg reaching freezing lows of minus-40, the Herd were too busy heating up the Investors Group Athletic Centre to notice. The #1 University of Manitoba Bisons women’s volleyball team (13-1) defeated the Brandon University Bobcats (4-10)at the Investors Group Athletic Centre for their eighth consecutive conference win (25-11, 25-14, 25-14).

The Bisons defeated the Bobcats on Friday night in straight sets for their 34th win of the season so it was easy to believe that such a dominating team may become complacent and lazy with the second match of a weekend series. Not so, as Manitoba put together perhaps their most impressive team performance of the season.

“We played well and prepared for (Brandon) as we would for any team,” said 2ndyear left side Amy Sigfusson, who finished with 5 kills and 1 service ace. “We watched two DVD’s before the game and Coach (Ken Bentley) had the team focused.”

The first set was one-sided as the home side executed their game plan excellently. Manitoba dominated the set as 5th year right side Amy Matthews and 2ndyear middle Ashley Voth were set-up often on the offensive rush. The Herd took the set 25-11, committing few errors and displaying offensive panache.

The second set was more of the same for Manitoba, as the #1 team in the country seemed to put together five- point runs when they needed it most. With the score 12-9 and the Bobcats sensing a major momentum swing, 2nd year middle Ashley Voth and Katie Davidson combined for a stuff block that led to a 6 point Manitoba run. Some meticulous serving and dissimilar looking offensive looks confused the provincial rival Bobcats and the Bisons never looked back from that point in the match.

The Herd never lost focus or control in the final frame as 2ndyear left side Amy Sigfusson, provided amazing outside attack shots and the defense made few, if any mistake. With the 25-14 third set win, the Bisons had their mind-boggling 35th overall win of the season, against one loss.

Individually, the Bisons were led offensively by 2ndyear left side Sarah Morrissette (.478 hitting percentage, 11 kills), Erin Nieuwenburg (.583 hitting percentage, 8 kills, 4 service aces) and Ashley Voth(8 kills). Brandon was led by Teagan Hunter (8 kills on39 total attacks) and Erin Visch-Krahn (6 kills). Manitoba’s defense was led statistically by Voth (6 total blocks, 10 digs) and Sarah Morrissette (2 blocks, 9 digs)

The Bisons will travel to Kamloops, British Columbia for their next two conference games to be played against Thompson Rivers University. The Brandon University Bobcats will return home to host the University of Saskatchewan Huskies on January 25th and 26th.

Complete statistics...