The Manitoba Bisons won the 26th annual Duckworth Challenge against the University of Winnipeg Wesmen by a 3-1-1 margin after a sweep of volleyball matches on Thursday night at the University of Manitoba. The Bison men’s volleyball team won 3-0 (25-14, 25-19, 25-21) over Winnipeg while the Bison women’s volleyball won 3-1 (15-25, 26-24, 25-20, 26-24) against Winnipeg to clinch this season’s Duckworth Challenge title for Manitoba.
On December 3, Winnipeg won 79-71 in women’s basketball while Manitoba won 79-78 in men’s basketball action. All the games during the 26th annual Duckworth Challenge counted in the Canada West standings, as they are conference regular season matches.
Earlier in the 2016-17 season, women’s soccer started the Challenge as it was played at Manitoba in Investors Group Field with a 1-1 result on October 6. With Winnipeg now fielding a women’s soccer team in conference play, The two universities have made the Duckworth Challenge into a competition of five games over three sports with the winner of the title in a best three-out-of-five.
Manitoba now holds a winning Duckworth Challenge overall record of 14-6-6 (17 titles counting tie-breakers) in the contest’s 26 year history. Overall, Manitoba’s Duckworth Challenge 26 year record in all games stands at: 63-44-1 with the Bisons breakdown in women’s soccer matches at 3-0-1; basketball games overall record at: 21-31 (women’s: 8-18; men’s: 13-13) and volleyball matches overall record at: 39-13 (women’s: 19-7; men’s: 20-6).
The Duckworth Challenge was started by Dr. Henry E. Duckworth (president of the University of Winnipeg from 1971-81 and Chancellor of the University of Manitoba from 1986-92) in an effort to profile the intense but friendly cross-town rivalry between the University of Winnipeg and the University of Manitoba. It originated in the 1991-92 season. A new trophy was presented at the end of the 24th annual Duckworth Challenge to replace the original shield handed out.
Duckworth Challenge Notes: Manitoba won the Duckworth Challenge in the 2014-15, 2015-16 editions with a 3-2 margin and had the first-ever 5-0 sweep in 2013-14. The Bisons now have captured this Duckworth Challenge Trophy for four consecutive seasons and in seven of the last eight seasons.
— Bison Sports
