CALGARY – Allen Meek and Dane Pischke went blow-for-blow from their respective right sides Saturday night, with Pischke and his No. 3 Manitoba Bisons emerging victorious with a 3-1 (27-25, 25-16, 17-25, 25-23) win over the No. 5 Calgary Dinos, sweeping their weekend Canada West men's volleyball series.

BOX SCORE

Meek put up 24 kills against 19 for Pischke, but the fourth-year Bison right side was more efficient with just four errors on the night against 10 for Meek.

The night was a roller-coaster for both sides, which at times played virtually error-free volleyball while at others struggled with consistency. The Bisons took a tight first set that looked to be well in hand at 23-20 but ended up with them fending off a pair of Calgary set points. The Dinos were unable to convert with 24-23 and 25-24 leads, and three straight blocks by a wall of Bisons – two on Chris Hoag, one on Graham Vigrass – gave Manitoba a 27-25 opening-set win. Both teams attacked efficiently in that set, with Manitoba connecting at 29 per cent and Calgary at 31, but six service errors by the Dinos cost them the frame.

The second was entirely different, as the Bisons needed just seven kills and their defensive wall to cruise to a 25-16 win. Manitoba picked up 8.5 of its 20 total team blocks in the second set alone, forcing the Dinos into 14 attack errors and just nine kills.

The ride continued in the third, when the shoe was on the other foot. This time Calgary hit an impressive .294, recording 15 kills – eight of which came from Meek – and forcing the Bisons into seven attack errors to extend the match to a fourth set. In that final frame, Manitoba shot out to a 4-0 lead following three straight errors by the Dinos, including back-to-back blocks by Carson Kauenhowen and Pischke, and never trailed from there. Calgary put up a fight to make it close, but Pischke's 19th and final kill sealed the win for the men in brown.

Other than Meek and Pischke, Manitoba's Chris Voth was the only player on either side to approach double digits in kills with his nine. Greg Mann and Graham Vigrass had seven each for Calgary, while Kauenowen and Joseph Brooks chipped in with six each for Manitoba.

Manitoba improves to 4-0 on the season, while the Dinos fall to 1-3 – already more losses on the year than their 16-2 campaign in 2010-11.

Both teams play their next series in Winnipeg. Manitoba heads home to host the UBC Okanagan Heat, while the Dinos will be downtown to visit the Winnipeg Wesmen for a two-game set on Thursday and Friday.

-UC-