Women's hockey student-athlete Lauryn Keen has been named the Smitty's Bison Sports Female Athlete of the Week and men's volleyball student-athlete Devren Dear has been named the Smitty's Bison Sports Male Athlete of the Week for the week ending October 26, 2014.
The Bison women' hockey team is on a roll as they secured another weekend sweep and have now won four consecutive conference games after beating the Lethbridge Pronghorns twice during the Oct. 24-26 weekend at home.
The Bisons are receiving input from several players and another rookie stepped up over the weekend as first year forward Lauryn Keen notched three points (two goals – one was a game-winner – plus an assist), +2 plus/minus rating, 12 shots and named first star in the 3-1 and 5-3 victories.
On Saturday, October 25 matinee, the Manitou, MB native had an assist along with seven shots in a 3-1 win. The next afternoon, Manitoba won 5-3 and Keen scored to open the game scoring and then notched the game-winner along with a +2 rating and five shots to earn first star selection.
With the win, Manitoba is in a tie for first place in the Canada West standings as they now have a 5-1-1-1 record.
Keen is tied for 20th in conference scoring and fourth in conference rookie scoring with five points (four goals and one assist).
The Bisons (5-1-1-1) have the conference bye this weekend and resume conference play against the first place Alberta Pandas (6-0-2-0) on the road during the November 7-8 weekend.
Over the Oct. 24-26 weekend, the Bison men's volleyball team went on the road and swept the UBC Okanagan Heat by 3-0 and 3-1 match wins.
The squad has now won four consecutive matches over the last two weekends and during the road sweep against the Heat, third year right side hitter Devren Dear was the top Bison in the hitting department. Dear slammed 35 kills, 16 digs, six overall blocks, two assists, one service ace plus 40.5 points while starting and playing in all seven sets.
Manitoba started the weekend with a 3-0 victory on Fri., Oct. 24 and Dear had a team-high 14 kills (.379 hitting percentage) along with two assists, digs and blocks along with 15.0 points scored. On the next night, the Herd won 3-1 over UBC Okanagan and the 6'6", 195 lbs. hitter registered a game-high 21 kills (.341 hitting percentage) plus a game-high 14 digs with four total blocks and one service ace and added 25.5 points to complete the weekend.
Manitoba is now tied for second in the ultra-competitive Canada West conference with a 5-1 record.
Dear is tied for sixth in Canada West with 75 kills, 16th in conference hitting percentage at .251 and seventh in points with 90 in six matches.
The Bisons will next face the #2 Trinity Western Spartans (4-2) on the road during the Oct. 31-Nov. 1 weekend.
