Paul Cartledge, Bears and Pandas Athletics
EDMONTON – Despite the No.2 University of Calgary Dinos coming back to knot the match at two sets apiece, the University of Alberta Pandas emerged victorious in a five-set win (25-22, 25-20, 18-25, 16-25, 15-10) to put themselves back on the positive side of .500, Friday night at Saville Community Sports Centre.
Team kill leader Kory White recorded a game-high 21 kills while sophomore outside hitter Erin Corbett added 11 and four aces, fourth-year middle Shauntelle Hogg and rookie outside hitter Julia Zonneveld each putting up 10 kills. Senior setter Eryn Orysiuk netted 50 assists.
Third-year outside hitter Kate Pexman scored a team-high 20 kills and 18 digs for the Dinos, third-year middle Beth Vinnell notching 19 kills, two aces, one solo block, and five block assists. Fourth-year setter Leah Shevkenek put up 53 assists alongside three aces.
The opening set was a back-and-forth affair, featuring the most tie scores of any set of the match with eight, but the Pandas managed to pull ahead enough on the scoreboard, despite the efforts of Vinnell, scoring a monstrous seven kills in the set, but erasing the work with a serve into the net to give Alberta the 1-0 set lead.
The Dinos shifted their strategy in the second set, giving Pexman more offensive opportunities (and the most kills to go with it), but a 7-2 Pandas run put the home team up by five, able to work the lead with a White kill off sophomore setter Lexi Peart in the back row to take the 2-0 set lead.
Taking advantage of Alberta attack errors, Calgary put together a couple of short runs to build a lead in the third set, then landing kill after kill after kill, their final 10 points coming off their own offence, only two of them coming from the service line.
The Dinos then amped up their defence in the fourth set, netting one solo block and six block assists to build another big lead while the Pandas ended up with a 0% attack percentage and only 10 kills.
Four straight points to finish off the set, including a Shevkenek ace off Zonneveld in the back row, knotted the set score at two, Calgary looking to keep their eight-game winning streak alive.
Unfortunately for the road team, five straight points by Alberta, fueled by big blocks, expanded into an 8-2 run to put the Pandas in command of the game. The Dinos, who have three players in the Top 10 when it comes to attack percentage in conference play, matched Alberta with seven kills in the set, but committed six errors, two late alongside a Shevkenek service error putting the Pandas up by a 14-9 score.
Hogg would follow with the sole attack error by the home squad in the set, firing one off the block and out of bounds, but Zonneveld closed out the game by using a decoy attack and finding back row.
The now 9-8 Pandas and 12-3 Dinos finish the two-game weekend series on Saturday, game time starting at approximately 6:30 p.m. MT.
Game notes: Head coach Laurie Eisler earns her 750th overall win, now owning a 750W-274L record.