By Paul Cartledge, Golden Bears and Pandas Athletics
EDMONTON – An endless battle between two provincial rivals took a full five sets to reveal a winner, the No.3 University of Alberta Golden Bears fighting back to take a 3-2 decision (26-28, 25-18, 17-25, 25-19, 15-13) over the No.8 University of Calgary Dinos to sweep the best-of-three quarter-final series, Saturday night at Saville Community Sports Centre.
Sophomore outside hitter Taryq Sani led his team with 17 kills, the Bears advancing to a best-of-three semifinal series against the UBC Thunderbirds in Vancouver, B.C. next weekend. Sophomore middle George Hobern added 12 kills, two solo blocks, and four block assists while fourth-year setter Luke Brisbane recorded a team-high 35 assists.
Three different Dinos hit double-digit kills, fourth-year outside hitter Regan Fathers tallying a match-high 19 kills while senior outside hitter Alex Bader put away 18 and third-year outside hitter Tim Taylor managed 12. Fourth-year setter Blain Cranston netted 46 assists.
Aside from a couple of four-point runs that kept Alberta ahead on the scoreboard for the most part, the opening set was an indication for the rest of the game, a back-and-forth battle where the teams usually went point-for-point. With the Bears up 24-21, however, two Calgary kills bookended a Dino block to tie the game up at 24.
The teams traded points twice before Taylor put a kill off the Alberta block and ended the set with an elusive ace that fourth-year left side Alex McMullin judged to be out yet found Bears court just inside the service line.
The war of attrition continued in the second set, the home team finally pulling ahead with six straight points after a 16-16 deadlock to get the upper hand. Third-year outside hitter Carter McIntyre finished the second set with an ace, repeating Taylor's feat with the ball now catching the back line of the Dino court.
Calgary was the better team in the third set, attacking at a 43% clip and recording four total blocks while the Bears struggled at the service line with six errors and succeeded at only a 14% rate.
Fathers ended the set when he got his kill total to a sweet 16, putting one off the block and straight towards to the broadcast crew on the sidelines.
The fourth set had one of the most extreme momentum swings in the back-and-forth match, the Bears putting together a 9-2 run to finally undo a four-point deficit to start the set. Sani then continued to add to an impressive season with two block assists on Bader before senior left side Michael Goertz put a kill off Fathers' head to set up set point, sophomore Dino middle Liam Laidlaw sending the game to a fifth set with his serve going long.
Trading points back and forth once more to begin the final set, Alberta broke out with a 6-1 run to make it 11-5 for the home team and threatening to end Calgary's season.
Eight points later, the Dinos cut the lead down to two, but a long rally involving a desperation dig by sophomore setter Max Elgert to keep the play alive led to a Jackson Kennedy block on Fathers that fell just inside the Dino line for the 14-11 lead.
A duo of monster two-man blocks got Calgary back to within one point of their Alberta hosts, but Hobern sneakily tapped a kill to some unprotected space near the net to finish the thrilling provincial conflict.
The Golden Bears advance to a best-of-three semifinal series against the No.2 UBC Thunderbirds in Vancouver, B.C.