Connor Hood - Golden Bears and Pandas Athletics

EDMONTON - Following being swept on the road against the Trinity Western Spartans last weekend, the University of Alberta Pandas returned to their winning ways on Saturday afternoon, dispatching the Thompson Rivers WolfPack 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-15) at Saville Community Sports Centre. 

The win also vaults the Pandas over the .500 mark again, as they improve to 6-5 following the win over the 'Pack. TRU, who also entered the weekend series with a 5-5 record, dropped their second-straight match (5-6) after a three-match win streak. 

Team-leader Kory White paced the Pandas on Saturday with 13 kills on 29 attempts, while also contributing defensively with seven digs. Fifth-year Panda setter Eryn Orysiuk finished with a game-high 34 assists, 14 more than WolfPack setter Anastasiya Muzyka (20). Yevgeniya Nyukhalova, who entered the weekend second in Canada West in kills per set with 4.20, had another strong performance with a game-high 16 kills on 39 attacks, but also added a game-high six attacking errors. 

While the teams entered the final conference series if 2017 with identical records, the Pandas established early on in the match that there was still a large gap between the two clubs. Alberta, thanks to a solid 24.2 attack percentage, to go along with eight attack errors committed by TRU, pulled away from the WolfPack late in the first set. Erin Corbett led the Panda attack with five kills on 12 attempts, with another three from White in the opening set. 

The second set was much of the more of the same, as the Pandas found little trouble offensively, with another 12 kills, while the WolfPack were troubled finding a gap in the Panda defence, adding another eight errors on 40 attempts. While the TRU attack improved slightly, so did Alberta's, who cruised to a 25-20 set win. Nyukhalova and Rachel Windhorst combined for 12 of their 15 second-set kills, but were also plagued with errors, combining for six in the second. 

It seemed unlikely with the way they opened the match, but the Pandas found another gear in the third set, immediately erasing any hope of a TRU comeback with a convincing 25-15 third set win. White was a large component of the takeover, as she led the Pandas with seven kills in the third, finishing with 13. 

The two clubs will end both the series and their first half tomorrow afternoon at Saville Community Sports Centre, with the rematch scheduled for 1:30 p.m.