By Paul Cartledge
EDMONTON – For the sixteenth consecutive year, the No.4 University of Alberta Golden Bears punched a ticket to the post-season, doing it this year with a straight-sets win (25-13, 25-16, 25-23), not to mention a weekend sweep, over the No.6 University of Calgary Dinos, Saturday night at Saville Community Sports Centre.
The eighth-straight win by Alberta came with sophomore outside hitter Taryq Sani leading on the scoreboard with a match-high 16 kills, fourth-year left side Alex McMullin adding 11 kills while fourth-year setter Luke Brisbane netted 43 assists.
Senior outside hitter Alex Bader notched 13 kills for the struggling visitors, fourth-year setter Blain Cranston recording 18 assists in the loss.
The opening set seemed to be going in Calgary's favour, four points going their way due to Alberta errors but a long rally with several awkward yet successful digs ended with Sani excitedly powering a kill down the line.
That turning point started a 9-1 run for the Bears, the Alberta squad happy to go point for point for the rest of the set but Sani bumped his kill total up to five late to improve the lead even further before McMullin, despite an unsuccessful first attempt during the rally, got his second cross-court effort to find the back right corner for the 1-0 set lead.
The Dino struggles in the first two sets were partially due to a low attack percentage, a combined total of 11 kills and 12 attack errors, but the Bears defence was impressive, a combined team total of 7.5 blocks, four of the team's starters having at least two block assists each.
Sani continued his offensive dominance with six more kills, Bader managing four in the set but undoing his team's late momentum with a serve into the net before Calgary rookie outside hitter Liam Kuppe misplayed a Jackson Kennedy serve to give Alberta a 2-0 set lead.
Similar to the Friday match, the third set went back and forth, Calgary able to build a late lead, only to have Alberta come back. The Bears waited a bit longer on Saturday night, the score getting to 23-20 for the Dinos before they pulled off the feat, but five straight points spelled the end of the match.
Bader seemingly casually misplayed a dig on an Arran Chambers serve to lock things up at 23, Sani notching his 11th kill of the night by finding some space just in front of a couple of Dinos in the back row before the final rally of the match ended with a battle at the net, hitting a Dino before going out of bounds on the Calgary side.
The 15-3 Bears will take a "bye" week before hosting the Saskatchewan Huskies in the first weekend of February while the 10-6 Dinos head to Kamloops, B.C. to play the Thompson Rivers WolfPack.