Paul Cartledge, Golden Bears and Pandas Athletics
EDMONTON – After giving the No.5 Brandon University Bobcats a chance to steal third place in the Canada West standings following Friday night's action, the No.3 University of Alberta Golden Bears responded with a four-set win (25-19, 25-18, 18-25, 25-18) on Saturday at Saville Community Sports Centre, solidifying their position and an upcoming date with the Calgary Dinos in the quarter-final playoff round.
Alberta finishes the season at 19-5 and will host the best-of-three Battle of Alberta series next weekend while 17-7 Brandon will host a Battle of Manitoba series, hosting the fifth-place Winnipeg Wesmen.
Fourth-year left side Alex McMullin led the Bears on Saturday with 16 kills and two aces while team kill leader Taryq Sani added 13 kills, finishing the season with a total of 362 which will likely lead the conference at the end of this weekend's action. Fourth-year setter Luke Brisbane recorded 41 assists.
Fourth-year outside hitter Liam Matheson earned a team-high 13 kills for the Bobcats, third-year outside hitter Seth Friesen notching eight as well as his team's only three aces in the match. Third-year setter Reece Dixon put up 43 assists.
An early 6-1 run in the opening set put the Bears ahead, Sani combining with sophomore middle George Hobern on two straight blocks of Seth Friesen attempts within the momentous drive, Alberta staying above Brandon on the scoreboard before the duo combined again to stop Friesen with a monster block for the 24-18 score. McMullin gave Alberta the 1-0 set lead with a scattered dig recovery by the road team of his third kill, the ball vaulting into the crowd.
Six straight points broke open an 8-6 score in the second set before a 7-1 Alberta run shortly after pushed the Bears' lead to double digits. Third-year outside hitter Carter McIntyre led the offence in both drives but his attack errors helped a late 8-2 run by Brandon to get back into the set, only to have fourth-year middle Daven Pascal's serve fall noticeably short of the net for a 2-0 Alberta set lead.
Service as well as attack errors plagued the home team in the third, however, making a combined total of 13 in the set while the Bobcats plugged away, attacking at a respectable 29% clip as Matheson led the team with six kills before Hobern's attack at the net went wide to extend the match to four sets.
Rookie outside hitter Travis Walls struggled early in the fourth set, the Brandon athlete mishandling a Jackson Kennedy serve before erring on two straight attempts, the second stymied by a block by Brisbane and senior middle Arran Chambers, playing in his final regular season home game.
The Alberta defence continued throughout the set with three more total blocks, building off the four-point swing courtesy of Walls to go point-for-point for the remainder of the set while avoiding a single attack error. McMullin pronouncedly swung the last two kills for the Bears, getting his fifth of the set to go off the block before finding space in the back left corner to end the regular season for both squads.
Each team advances to the quarter-final playoff round as a host of a provincial battle, Alberta hosting Calgary while Brandon hosts Winnipeg. Dates and times to still be determined.