WINNIPEG - The UBC Okanagan Heat men's volleyball team rallied to force a fifth-set before falling in the final frame in the opening match of their best-of-three Canada West play-in series with the Manitoba Bisons on Thursday night.

Set scores were 25-23, 23-25, 21-25, 25-20, 12-15.

The Heat, led by 54 assists from Zach van Geel (which tied his career high), hit .397 with six different players recording at least two kills. Seba Manuel was van Geel's favourite target, with 18 kills and a .412 hitting percentage.
 
Meanwhile, Manitoba hit .317, paced by 51 assists from Ludwig, which tied his career high.
 
Owen Weekes led all players with a career-high 22 kills along with eight digs, while Karil Dadash Adeh had 17 kills and Spencer Grahame had 16.
 
The match also served as a homecoming for first-year Heat head coach Scott Koskie, a Bisons alum, former Player of the Year and national champ with the program.
 
"This is a special place. I played here at the university and then I played here with the national team and I coached here with the national team. There is a lot of volleyball history in the building," he said.
 
"It was a little bit emotional coming back to Winnipeg. All the people here who support the game, the officials, the staff, it's always great to come back to a community who appreciates volleyball. It's been really special and it's nice that it worked out this way."
 
Six different UBCO players recorded a kill in the first set, while Dadash Adeh and Weekes combined for 11 for Manitoba. The hosts led all throughout, with UBCO taking momentum and their first lead at 17-16 on a van Geel pass to Mika Feilberg, who went off hands.
 
From there it was shot-for-shot, until a few critical errors late secured the set for the visitors.
 
Weekes hit .500 after two, as he and Dadash Adeh combined for 20 kills in a set two win for the Bisons, who hit .419. The Heat weren't far behind, at .345.
 
The Heat took a 20-18 lead off a van Geel ace, but that's when Ludwig went back to the outside for Weekes and Dadash Adeh. The pair tied the game up, and Weekes ended the set with his 11th kill, going hard off hands from the right.
 
Bisons captain Spencer Grahame was the story in the third. He had three of Manitoba's first seven points off left side attacks, as Ludwig went to him early and often. He finished the set with five kills, as Manitoba surged to an 18-13 lead.
 
But van Geel had a response. His diving dig, the seventh of the game for the setter, led to a Seb Manuel kill which made it 23-21 late.
 
Manitoba shut the door on a comeback however, as Dadash Adeh put down a c-ball kill, and Weekes belted his 16th kill of the match (and second straight set winner) right after with Ludwig diving to the floor to keep the rally alive, finding the rookie for a no-doubter.
 
The Bisons hit just five percent in the fourth, compared to .385 for UBCO. Feilberg had back-to-back blocks on Grahame to give the visitors a 13-9 lead. Manitoba got within one, but were not able to overtake the Heat.
 
Feilberg ended the fourth with a smash off hands for his seventh kill of the game.

A van Geel block gave UBCO a 5-3 lead in the fifth, and they added another point right after, but Manitoba had the response.
 
Back-to-back aces from Jordon Heppner, second in the country in the stat this year, gave the hosts a 7-6 lead, and it was a race to the finish from there as the evenly-matched sides dueled point for point.
 
A Weekes kill gave Manitoba a 13-12 lead, and then Witt stepped up with an ace, followed by the Ogaranko match winner to conclude the instant classic.
 
The two teams will square off again tomorrow night, Friday, February 21, with the Heat looking to push the series to a third and deciding game. First serve is set for 5:30 p.m. Pacific and the action can be seen live on CanadaWest.tv powered by BioSteel.
 
"It sounds cliché, but it's going to come down to three plays," said Koskie.
 
"Who's going to make a play? Their setter came in, he made a great serve over there to position one. I don't think the game is going to be won or lost on an error. Whoever is going to take the game is going to have to take the game. Those last two points there, it was a great serve and a great hit off the block. It was our best against their best and it bounced their way."