Paul Cartledge, Golden Bears and Pandas Athletics
EDMONTON – Risking a drop in the conference standings if they didn't win, and do it quickly, the No.8 University of Alberta Pandas made short work of the Brandon University Bobcats, winning in straight sets (25-14, 25-12, 25-21) on Saturday at Saville Community Sports Centre to maintain their fourth-place spot in Canada West, guaranteeing home-court advantage in the quarter-final playoff round.
Alberta finishes the season at 15-9, tied with the Trinity Western Spartans who sport an identical record, but the Pandas hold the tie-breaker (ratio of sets won to sets lost over the season), which means they'll host the very same Spartans in a best-of-three series next weekend when the post-season gets underway. Brandon falls to 10-14, finishing just outside the playoff picture behind 11-13 Mount Royal.
Team kill leader Kory White once again led her squad with 13 kills, finishing with a total of 352 on the season which incredibly puts her in a three-way tie for first in the conference with UBC's Kiera Van Ryk and Thompson Rivers' Yevgeniya Nyukhalova. Rookie outside hitter Julia Zonneveld added 10 kills while senior setter Eryn Orysiuk established a new team record with 47 aces in a single season, breaking the previous high of 44 by Kacey Otto in the 2016-17 season. The Edmonton native also created a new Canada West record with 942 assists in a single season, passing Trinity Western's Nikki Cornwall who tallied 920 in the 2015-16 season.
Fourth-year left side Nikala Majewski scored a match-high 14 kills for Brandon, senior setter Mary Thomson netting 20 assists.
After the teams traded a half-dozen points in the opening set, the Pandas put together a small four-point run, highlighted by Orysiuk's record-setting ace that incidentally came off the conference ace leader for the season, the Bobcats' Michelle Egger.
Eight straight points by the Pandas shortly after put them in full command of the set, Orysiuk adding a third ace off rookie libero Caitlin Le before White powered her sixth kill through the Brandon defence and third-year outside hitter Mary Pless found the back court just inside the line for the 1-0 set lead.
Alberta continue to execute with virtually flawless precision to start the second set, racking up six consecutive points and adding a 7-2 run to balloon their lead to 14-5. It didn't take much longer to double the set lead, rookie setter Elyse Hart getting in on the action with her first career conference kill going off a Bobcat defender and out before sophomore middle Danielle Larocque sent an attack wide for the Pandas' set point.
Majewski fought hard in the final set, notching three straight kills for her team in the early stages and adding four more to boost the lead to 19-15, Brandon threatening to extend the match to a fourth set.
Yet another eight-point streak by Alberta reversed the lead and spelled certain doom for the visitors, despite an eighth kill by Majewski, Zonneveld concluding proceedings with a strike that freshman middle Sami Love couldn't quite handle and sent into the crowd.
The Pandas advance to the quarter-final playoff round as a host of the Trinity Western Spartans, game one going Friday at 4 p.m., followed by game two on Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday, if necessary, at 1 p.m.