EDMONTON - For the second-straight year, the University of Alberta Golden Bears claimed Canada West gold over the Trinity Western University Spartans, this time by virtue of a four-set win win (26-24, 25-20, 25-27, 25-20) to defend their title on Saturday night at the Saville Community Sports Centre.
Alberta, also the defending CIS champions, advance along with Trinity Western to the CIS championship tournament to be played next weekend at the University of Saskatchewan.
Multiple Canada West All-Star Ryley Barnes netted a game-high 22 kills for the conference champions, including crucial kills in the final set to cement the victory. Third-year left side Ryan Nickifor added 11 kills while Final Four tournament MVP Brett Walsh recorded 53 assists, 15 digs, and two aces.
"Brett is still growing as a setter," said long-time U of A head coach Terry Danyluk, "and he's pretty fun to watch. He's capable of quite a bit, and when he packages things together, like he did this weekend, and plays with some spit and vinegar, like he did today, I mean he served well, he defended well, and he had a couple of aces, so you really couldn't ask for much more. He was good all weekend; he used different guys yesterday and spread the offence out a lot today. He's a young setter only in his third year, but he's our captain for a reason and you can really see that he is growing as a volleyball player and as a person."
Canada West MVP Nick Del Bianco did his part to keep his squad in the match, delivering 15 kills, four aces, and three total blocks, fellow teammate and all-star Ryan Sclater tallied a baker's dozen in kills, 11 digs, and three total blocks as well. Sophomore setter Adam Schriemer put up 35 assists in the entertaining match-up.
"That was two good teams playing today," continued Danyluk, "and they were a team we knew would block well, which they did, so we had to do some other things well, which we did. We out-dug them by 15, which is the other side of the coin because I didn't think we could out-block them but I thought if we could hit smart against them and out-dig them we could win, and that's what happened."
Solid defence and digging got the momentum rolling for the home team in the opening set, as Alberta propelled to a 7-3 advantage, before a quick 4-0 run by the road team knotted things up at seven.
Third-year middle Taylor Arnett answered with four kills in a short span to get the Bears back on top but attack errors then gripped the Alberta offence, with a 6-0 run going in favour of Trinity Western to get the Spartans in striking distance of a 1-0 set lead.
Barnes replied with three of his seven kills in the set to shift the momentum once more, with the Bears eventually drawing even at 23.
After a Del Bianco cross-court attempt went wide and a Kevin Proudfoot serve did the same, fourth-year middle John Goranson put a light touch through traffic at the net for set point, and then Alberta claimed the first set on a four-hit error by Trinity Western.
Trading points back and forth to open the second, the Bears got the lead as high as seven off an 8-2 run before Del Bianco's talents from the service line helped erase the deficit back down to two.
Unfortunately for the Langley, B.C. native, his last attack of the set went long to give Alberta set point before Nickifor put a kill through the block, eluding rookie libero Carter Bergen for the 2-0 set lead.
"Their aggressive hitters got points and so did ours," commented Danyluk, "but I think our offence had a little more balance to it and I think that was a bit of a difference today too. I thought Brett spread the ball out quite a bit, and sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't, but fortunately for us it worked out."
Not backing down from the pressure, however, the Spartans poured on the defence in the third set, combining for 10.5 blocks to overwhelm the 43 attacks by Alberta, despite the Bears notching 20 kills.
Up 24-23, Del Bianco put one into the net on the serve to tie things up, Trinity Western then committing another ill-timed four-hit error to put the Bears up by one, but Sclater replied with a kill down the middle to equalize the score at 25.
Barnes then threw a kill wide before Sclater sneaked the ball underneath Canada West All-Rookie Team member Alex McMullin on the block to get the Spartans back in the match.
The two squads then battled hard in the final set, neither team getting an edge until four errors by Trinity helped put the Bears up by four at 20-16.
Sclater and Barnes traded kills but the second by Barnes off the Spartan back row sent shockwaves through a hometown crowd that got even louder with Goranson's deft two-hand kill at the net getting Alberta to 23-18 on the scoreboard.
Despite an Ian Cooper service error, Barnes kept the electric buzz alive in the spectators by finding some open space at the back of the Trinity court, fourth-year right side Kevin Proudfoot ending the proceedings off Sclater and out of bounds for the euphoric celebration.