![Opening-set comeback paves way to Panda win](/sports/wvball/2014-15/photos/AbWVB-7.jpg?max_width=450)
EDMONTON - After an impressive comeback win in the opening set,
the No.1 University of Alberta Pandas swept the MacEwan University
Griffins, taking game two of the weekend series in straight sets
(25-22, 25-14, 25-21), Saturday night at the Saville Community
Sports Centre.
Edmonton native Meg Casault and Potsdam, Germany recruit Josephine
Doerfler each had 11 kills in the match, netting two and three
aces, respectively. Sophomore setter Mariah Walsh added a game-high
32 assists.
Fourth-year outside hitter Madison Porisky spun a game-high 13
kills, adding 14 digs, while second-year setter Jessica Brown
recorded 26 assists.
In the first-ever weekend of conference action between the two
municipal rivals, the win improves the Pandas' record to 8-2 while
MacEwan drops to 3-7.
A combination of attack errors by Alberta and precision
marksmanship by the Griffins, including three aces, put the Pandas
in a huge hole, down 18-9 in the opening set.
Yet veteran middle Dione Lang turned the tide with two kills that
began a slow-but-steady climb in an incredible 15-5 run led by
Casault and Doerfler, the two outside hitters combining for the
other seven direct kills in the run with Doerfler finishing the
comeback with a cross-court kill for the 1-0 set lead.
The momentum carried into the second set, Alberta finding their
own marksmanship inside a 14-3 run featuring no less than six aces,
and without a single error from the service line.
Unlike their crosstown rivals, however, MacEwan could not muster a
comeback, instead going point-for-point with the top-ranked CIS
squad, Casault putting the Pandas up by two sets with a kill off a
Griffin block.
MacEwan didn't give up in the final set, though, keeping things
close on the scoreboard but the depth of the Alberta squad was too
much, third-year outside hitter Kacey Otto taking center stage and
bookending the set with a duo of kills at each end, her final one
almost prevented by sophomore libero Karly Edgar, but it went off
into the crowd to send the Griffins back home.
The Pandas head out on the road for the rest of November, their
first stop in Vancouver to face the UBC Thunderbirds before a "bye"
weekend and another stop in Kamloops to square off against the
Thompson Rivers WolfPack. MacEwan will spend next weekend on the
"bye" before hosting the Saskatchewan Huskies.