Connor Hood - Golden Bears and Pandas Athletics

EDMONTON - The University of Alberta Pandas completed the weekend sweep of the MacEwan Griffins, earning a 3-2 win (25-22, 20-25, 25-22, 27-29, 15-9) Sunday afternoon at Saville Community Sports Centre. 

The match, which took over two hours, was the second-straight win over the Griffins for Alberta, who start their Canada West season with back-to-back wins. The Griffins suffered their second-straight series sweep, falling to 0-4 in conference play. 

First-year Panda Kory White led the match with 19 kills on a staggering 53 attempts, while Erin Corbett added 14 for the Pandas, and Eryn Orysiuk finished with a game-high 52 assists. Cassidy Kinsella led the Griffins with 16 kills on 53 attempts. Claire McLoughlin led the visitors with 45 assists. 

Despite dropping a straight sets decision the previous night, MacEwan played much better in the final two sets on their home court, and carried that play into the rubber match. The Griffins held a lead of as much as seven in the opening set, but were unable to hold on to their early lead. A late push by Alberta, as well as some attacking errors by the Griffins, gave the first set to Alberta 25-20. 

Kinsella and Lauren Holmes took charge in the second set, as each outside hitter poured in kill after kill, leading to a 25-20 set win for MacEwan. 

The back-and-forth marathon match continued into the third, with neither team separating themselves from the other. Corbett and White added another four kills each in the third, while the Griffins were led by another five kills from McKenna Stevenson, who finished the match with 13. The Pandas gained a late lead, eventually holding on for a 25-22 third-set win. 

The fourth set was easily the closest of the match, with the Griffins escaping with a hard-fought 29-27 win. Thanks to an improved attack percentage, as well as 10 attack errors from the hosts, the Griffins were able to erase three Pandas match points to take the highly-entertaining fourth. 

The Pandas depth and experience, however, finally came through in the fifth, as they cruised to a 15-8 win. 

The 2-0 Pandas will head to Regina next weekend for their first full road series of the season. The Griffins, meanwhile, will host the UBC Okanagan Heat in two weeks time, following their first 'bye' week of the season. All four games will be available on Canada West TV.