By Paul Cartledge
EDMONTON – After losing in five sets on Friday evening, the No.6 University of Alberta Golden Bears responded with a four-set win (25-23, 22-25, 25-23, 25-18) over the No.2 UBC Thunderbirds, claiming the weekend series split and handing UBC their first loss of the season, Saturday night at Saville Community Sports Centre.
Coming into Saturday's action as the Canada West leader in kills per set, Taryq Sani had a monster night all over the court, netting another 15 while adding three aces, a game-high three solo blocks, four block assists, and a game-high eight digs. Rookie left side Jackson Kennedy added nine kills while sophomore middle George Hobern scored a game-high five aces and fourth-year setter Luke Brisbane recorded 34 assists.
Irvan Brar, who's moving anything but slowly towards a milestone 1,000 kills in career conference play (currently at 965), also had a prolific night on the scoresheet, tallying a game-high 18 kills alongside three aces and four block assists. Unfortunately, the Surrey, B.C. native also notched six service errors, the team earning 27 as a whole, considerably helping them fall to 7-1 on the season. Senior right side Mat Guidi added nine kills while fourth-year setter Byron Keturakis contributed 43 assists.
Unsurprisingly, the match started by continuing from Friday's action, a back-and-forth battle of attrition between two top squads but a short three-point Alberta run to break a 12-12 tie was just enough, the Bears using that small lead to propel themselves to the end of the set.
Already, service errors were causing problems for the Thunderbirds, committing 10 in the opening set alone, Guidi fittingly hitting the net to give Alberta the 1-0 set lead.
The second set featured a couple of small point swings, the Bears briefly enjoying a 19-15 lead on one of them before UBC replied with a 5-0 run to reclaim the lead on the strength of a duo of Danny Aspenlieder aces.
The service line became part of the story for set point again, Brar firing one that handcuffs fourth-year libero Jared Schubert, Brisbane unable to recover the errant volley.
A strong 6-2 start by Alberta gave them the initial momentum in the third set but the Thunderbirds kept fighting back, despite consistently killing their own momentum with more service errors, totaling seven in the third set. Yet the second error by Keturakis in the set finally seemed to be their undoing, starting a 7-0 Bears run fueled by a trio of Hobern aces, but Brar pulled UBC back within one with two straight aces…only to fire the next into the net, the Bears earning a 2-1 set lead.
The start of the final set had them shaking off their service woes, only to reencounter the epic force that was Sani on Saturday, the Scarborough, Ont. native drilling them with five kills early in the set even though the Thunderbirds managed to keep pace on the scoreboard.
Yet the service errors seeped back into the road team's efforts while the Alberta blocking got even stronger, earning four points in a 10-2 Bear run, the scoreboard seeing the highest imbalance all weekend with the Bears up 20-13.
After a short 4-1 run by UBC to regain some momentum, the service line wielded its storyline power one more time, former Calgary Dino Keith West recording the Thunderbirds' final service error, the senior left side then mishandling his reception of a Hobern serve to end UBC's chance at an undefeated season.
The 7-1 Bears will head west next weekend to face off against the reigning Canada West and U SPORTS champions while 7-1 UBC heads home to host the other Edmonton-based volleyball team, the MacEwan University Griffins.