Bobcats stumble late in loss to Bisons

One day soon, the Brandon University Bobcats will act like they’ve been there before with a late-set lead.

They had plenty of chances to close out the Manitoba Bisons, but time after time were unable to finish at the Healthy Living Centre on Friday, falling 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 26-24).

BU fell to 0-7 on the Canada West women’s volleyball season while the defending U Sports champion Manitoba improved to 3-2.

“We feel really good. Even after, in the huddle, we were saying, ‘That’s a great fight,’” said BU outside hitter Georgia Johnson.

“It’s just so fun to play when we can compete with defending national champs and bring them within three points in each set.”

Brandon led by two late in the first and went up as many as five points in each of the other two, but ultimately succumbed to the Raya Surinx show. The two-time national player of the year racked up 16 kills and four errors, doubling almost everyone else on her team.

“It’s so fast. You almost have no time to react,” Johnson said of the six-foot outside hitter’s attacking, adding it’s crucial to know exactly where to move to have a chance of slowing her down.

“It’s so much fun to watch, but it’s so much more fun to play, especially when you get it right and get that block or that dig or that kill against such a great team.”

BU finished the night with 48 digs to the U of M’s 44, but didn’t start strong defensively.

The Bobcats handed a team that doesn’t need any free points too many early. While Carly Thomson got most of her hitters going early, BU’s defence let a few easy tips hit the floor while firing a few attacks well out of play.

Manitoba gave a few back to let Brandon tie it 8-8 before rattling off a quick three-point run.

The Bobcats clawed back and took a 16-15 lead on the back of tough serving and Nerissa Dyer and Georgia Johnson’s smart, aggressive offence.

After a few traded points, Steph Miller blasted a line shot to go up 21-19 and encourage Bisons coach Ken Bentley to call a timeout.

The Bisons absolutely fed Surinx after the breather, pulling ahead 22-21.

Rookie setter Julia Martens kept going to Surinx until the final point, her eighth kill of the set, to go up 1-0.

BU started the second set with lights-out block defence, denying Bisons left and right to steal a few points on serve and lead 7-3.

The Bobcats went up as much as 11-6, but gave most of the advantage back on one run featuring a heavy dose of opposite Ella Gray.

Brandon kept pace until late in the set, trailing 17-16 before piling up three errors in five points to let Manitoba break another set open.

That 21-17 lead was enough for the Bisons to trade points and pull ahead 2-0.

Brandon refused to go away quietly. Tied 10-10, Dyer took over with three straight kills before Thomson and Miller added two more on Grace Gallacher’s serving run.

The serving sub didn’t need any help bringing her run to a whopping seven points on back-to-back aces to lead 17-10.

It turns out that wasn’t enough of a cushion. Bisons middle blocker Eve Catojo, whose serve caused Brandon enough trouble early in the match, strung five points together as BU struggled to settle into its offence.

Johnson gave up an ace, was subbed out, then reset and made two clutch kills, the second possibly Brandon’s biggest bounce of the season to stay up 21-17.

Though BU led 23-18, both Johnson and Dyer got caught in the back row, and Manitoba picked up six straight points to take the lead.

The Bobcats fended off one match point but let it slip away two points later.

While it’s a tough way to lose, the ongoing trend of the Brandon being close but not closing beats the blowouts it was once accustomed to.

“We still have that chance each time. The fact that we’re in that position to win is so good for us, so just working on those last couple of points and closing out a set,” said Johnson, who finished with eight kills, six errors and five digs.

“You’ve got to give them credit, though. They’re great swingers, high swingers, they have national players on their team.”

Dyer led BU with 11 kills and two errors for a match-high .592 hitting percentage.

Brandon posted 36 kills and 20 errors for .147 while Manitoba had 42 kills and 13 errors for .259.

The teams play again today at 5 p.m.

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com

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