EDMONTON - The No.2 University of Alberta Golden Bears volleyball team were pushed right to the brink against the Mount Royal University Cougars, but prevailed 3-2 (25-21, 30-28, 18-25, 17, 25, 15-12) Friday night at the Saville Community Sports Centre.
The win gives Alberta a 20-4 record and puts them one win away from clinching first place in the conference and hosting the Canada West Final Four. The loss drops Mount Royal to 11-12 on the season and in desperate need of a win Saturday night to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Mount Royal was led offensively by first-year outside hitter Tyler Schmidt with 20 kills, senior libero Jordan Or with nine digs, and third-year setter Samuel Brisbane with 46 assists for the Cougars.
Alberta was led by huge nights from fourth-year left side Ryley Barnes and third-year left side Ryan Nickifor. Barnes had a team-high 18 kills, while Nickifor had 15 kills and 5 block assists; both players added six digs as well. Third-year setter Brett Walsh had a team-high 56 assists and, in the process, broke the Canada West single season record for assists. Walsh entered the night with 918, needing just nine to break the record of 929. He now sits at 974 with one match left. Walsh also surpassed 2,000 career assists in conference play, currently totalling 2,033.
The first set began very evenly as the two teams exchanged points with big hits back and forth all the way to an 11-11 tie.
A Tyler Schmidt kill followed by a Josh Kirkham block gave the Cougars a 16-14 lead, but the Bears got a big kill from Taylor Arnett, a block from Nickifor, and an error from Mount Royal to take an 18-17 lead.
Brett Walsh then recorded two consecutive blocks on the same point to push the Alberta lead to 20-18. The 6'5" athlete then won a battle over 7'3" Grigor Kartev, Walsh winning a block at the net against the fourth-year middle from Calais, France for Mount Royal, making it 22-19 Bears.
Alex McMullin had a big kill from power for the Bears to make it set point and then put the ball off a Cougars block to clinch the first set 25-21 for Alberta. Barnes and Schmidt led their respective teams with four kills each.
Alberta had a much quicker start to the second set, taking a 5-1 lead early from some errors by the Cougars. Mount Royal would battle back behind the serve of Kartev, however, levelling the set at 6-6.
Remaining tied until 14-14, Mount Royal took the lead on a diving pancake dig from Or that led to a kill from Schmidt, making it 15-14.
The set would even up again off an Alberta hit out of bounds at 19-19 before John Goranson had a big kill to put Alberta ahead 21-19.
Nickifor had a left-side kill down the line to put the Bears up 23-20 and then another kill from Nickifor went off the Mount Royal block for set point.
Alberta tried to finish the set off of a Barnes kill, but it went just a bit too long, allowing the Cougars to tie the set at 24 and take the lead off of a long hit from Nickifor.
Alberta tied it back up off a Nickifor kill and at 26-26, Barnes left a free ball a little too high as Samuel Brisbane put the Cougars up one, but the next serve found the net to tie it at 27.
Another Mount Royal serve into the net made it 29-28 Alberta before Barnes finished the marathon set with a touch off a block to give the Bears the 30-28 win. Nickifor had seven kills in the set to lead Alberta; Schmidt had five more to lead the Cougars.
Mount Royal went up 4-2 early in the third off of a Kartev ace but a massive kill from power by McMullin made it 3-4.
A Barnes block made it 8-7 Bears before the 7'3" Kartev pulled one out of the clouds to tie it 8-8.
The Cougars jumped ahead 16-10 off a block at the net, while the Bears struggled, giving Mount Royal a 19-11 lead. Yet Alberta battled back to 17-23 off a Nickifor and Goranson block and Barnes drilled an ace down the middle to make it 18-23.
Mount Royal got set point at 24-18 off of a miss at the net and then a kill off the Alberta block gave the Cougars the set 25-18.
The fourth set saw another strong start from Mount Royal as a Michael Wickstrom kill and then a long hit from the Bears made it 5-1 Cougars. Kartev had another kill from up high to help Mount Royal lead 9-1 early on.
Schmidt put another kill down and the Bears hit it long for a 14-3 Cougars lead, but Alberta battled back with an Arnett block, leading a rally back to 8-16 behind the serve of Goranson.
The Cougars would remain in control up 22-13 off of a long serve from Barnes, however, following with a great cross-court kill from Schmidt for a 23-13 lead. It was set point for Mount Royal off of a Jordan Parkin kill at 24-17 before Mount Royal forced the fifth set off a McMullin ball into the net.
Alberta got an early tip from Barnes, followed by two out-of-bounds kills by Mount Royal to lead 3-0 early in the final set.
Mount Royal would even the set at 6-6 before Goranson muscled one over the block, making it 7-6 Bears, and Alberta led 9-7 off a set of out-of-bounds attempts by Or. Unfortunately for the home team, an attack out-of-bounds from Arnett evened the set at 9-9 and the Cougars led 10-9 off a wide hit from Barnes.
Kartev then put one down for an 11-9 Cougars lead, but Kevin Proudfoot delivered a big kill and Arnett put a free ball down to tie it at 11-11.
Kartev tried to pass the ball up, sending it up and out for a 13-11 Alberta lead, but made up for it with a soft touch for 12-13.
Barnes muscled one off the Cougars block for match point and Nickifor, Arnett, and Proudfoot combined for a monster block off Schmidt to give Alberta the set 15-12 and the match.
The Bears and Cougars will complete their weekend series and conclude the regular season Saturday night at the SCSC at 6:30 p.m. MT.