WINNIPEG – The University of Calgary Dinos women's volleyball team put on a strong showing Thursday night, recording 14 aces, but fell 3-1 (22-25, 25-21, 15-25, 21-25) to the Manitoba Bisons at the Investors Group Athletic Centre.

Manitoba rookies Julia Martens and Lucy Jurgensen stepped into the lineup against Calgary and made a major impression. Martens had 41 assists, an ace, four kills and 10 digs, while Jurgensen recorded two kills, an ace, four digs and three total blocks. Raya Surinx led the Bisons' attack with 18 kills and just two errors, while the Herd hit .436 overall.

Calgary was led by second-year outside hitter Sophia Hansen, who had 12 kills, while rookie Kalyssa Komori impressed with a season-high 10 kills.

Efficiency was a key story in set one. Calgary hit .250 and had 13 kills, paced by Hansen, as the visitors took a 15-14 lead. But as the set went along, the Bisons were the cleaner team.

Manitoba hit .444 overall, paced by seven kills on eight attacks from Surinx, while Martens dished out 12 assists, finding four different players while also recording a kill. The hosts went on a 3-0 run to take a 17-15 lead and didn't trail the rest of the way.

Calgary had seven aces in the second set, paced by three from Hansen in a four-point set win.

A kill from the left, followed by back-to-back aces from Hansen, helped the Dinos pull ahead 11-9, and they didn't trail for the remainder of the set.

Martens had two kills – including a dart into the back line – but serve-receive told the story for the visitors, who remained in the lead thanks to their play from the line.

The Bisons had no errors in set three, as Martens got everyone involved in a well-balanced attack.

Middle Brenna Bedosky subbed into the game and was notable with four kills on six attacks, while Jurgensen had a key kill from the right, and Martens got it to libero Chelsea Siebenga for a free ball kill to end the third.

Komori paced Calgary with five kills in the set, but the Dinos had seven errors and hit just .117, unable to match the efficiency of the hosts.

Gray, Bedosky and Martens all had aces in set four, as Manitoba opened up a 17-11 lead. Setter Anya Fehr had multiple tricky kills on dump plays into the pot, and though the Dinos got back to within two, the balance of the Bisons' attack proved to be the difference.

Manitoba improved to 2-1, while Calgary fell to 1-2.

Both teams play again tomorrow at 6 p.m.