CALGARY - The No. 1 Alberta Golden Bears got another scare from the No. 7 University of Calgary Dinos tonight, but the visitors prevailed 3-2 (25016, 20-25, 22-25, 25-22, 15-8) on Nov. 1 at Jack Simpson Gymnasium.
The Golden Bears' record remains spotless at 8-0, while the Dinos drop to 3-5. Calgary has been just the second team to take Alberta to five set so far this season.
Calgary's Braden O'Toole recorded a game-high 20 kills, followed byKeith West with 11 kills and a team-high seven digs. Setter Alex Cookadded 31 assists on the night.
For Alberta, three Golden Bears hit double digits in kills including Ryan Nickifor with 16, and Kevin Proudfoot and Ryley Barnes with 14 each. Setter Brett Walsh recorded a game-high 53 assists. Reed May added 10 digs for the Golden Bears.
In the first set, Alberta took an early 13-9 lead, forcing the Dinos to call a timeout. Their four point lead held up to the technical timeout at 16-12 and relentless offence from the Golden Bears didn't leave much room for the Dinos to catch up. They lost the first 25-16.
The second set was more of a battle, but it was the Dinos coming out with a 16-12 lead at the technical. Calgary extended it's lead to 18-12 on an ace from Sean Tuff, forcing Alberta to call a timeout. The Golden Bears were able to get within three near the end of the set, but it was the Dinos tying up the match with a 25-20 win.
Calgary once again got off to an early lead in the third set, up 10-5, but Alberta found a way to slowly close the gap. The Golden Bears tied the set at 13, winning some scrambled plays and they took their first lead of the set at 15-14. The set remained tied all the way up until 20 where Alberta made two errors to allow the Dinos to go up 22-20. With an ace from West, the Dinos won the set 25-22 with a chance to be the first team to knock off the Golden Bears.
In the fourth, Calgary's 11-7 lead early on evaporated with Barnes' unstoppable offence. He helped Alberta tie the game up at 14 and eventually go up 16-14 at the technical timeout. The Dinos found themselves trailing by one throughout most of the second half of the set, but finally tied it at 21. Two tough errors from the Dinos gave Alberta a 23-21 lead and they went on to force a fifth-set by winning it 25-22.
The final set of the match, Walsh took the Golden Bears on an early 4-1 run. A block from the Golden Bears allowed them to take a five-point lead at 8-3 while the teams switched sides of the court. The closest the Dinos would get to the Golden Bears' lead would be within two at 9-7 with a big block from Connor Frehlich, but Alberta's offence was too much for the Dinos to handle. The final score read 15-8.
The Dinos will face the Saskatchewan Huskies on the road, Nov. 7-8.