CALGARY - The No. 10 University of Calgary Dinos were unable to complete the sweep of the No. 1 Alberta Pandas as they fell 3-1 (25-18, 17-25, 25-20, 25-22) on Nov. 1 at Jack Simpson Gymnasium.
The Dinos end the weekend with a .500 record of 4-4 while the Pandas improve to 6-2.
"We knew that the Pandas would come back and be better tonight, which they definitely were, and to me it came down to our serve and pass game," said Dinos head coach Natalie Gurnsey. "We lost the pass battle and that's what lost us the game."
Middle Jaylynn Moffatt led the way for the Dinos with 11 kills on the night. Rookie Kate Pexman added another 10 kills and 11 digs while setter Jordhynn Guy had a game-high 40 assists with 14 digs. LiberoAmber Brown had a game-high 18 digs.
For the Pandas, Josephine Doerfler had a game-high 17 kills in the match. Kacey Otto added another nine kills and nine digs. Setter Mariah Walsh recorded 36 assists and 15 digs. Meg Cassault and Jessie Niles also hit double digits in digs with 13 and 12, respectively.
In the first set, the Dinos and Pandas were tied all that way up to 12 before Alberta too a 16-12 lead with some Dinos errors. Setter Mariah Walsh then went on a seven point serving run that allowed Alberta to take a significant lead. The Dinos were unable to recover and gave up the set 25-18.
Calgary saw themselves take an early lead in the second set, going up 13-8. They were able to hold down that lead at 19-15, forcing Alberta to call their second timeout of the match. Some great offence proved to be trouble for the Pandas defence and the Dinos tied the match up at one with a 25-17 win.
In the pivotal third set, both teams battled it out early, tied up at 12. A dump from setter Guy, her third of the night, gave the Dinos a 16-14 lead at the technical timeout. They couldn't hold on for too long though, as Alberta and Calgary traded points up until Erica Walsh subbed in for the Pandas and went on a five point serving run. The Dinos were unable to generate any offence and ended up losing the set 25-20.
"We were up in the third set and then they went on a huge serving run on us and I don't even think we got an attack out of six serves that came over the net so we just got tight. You could tell from the start of the night that we were a little anxious and it definitely reflected in our passing game."
The energy for the Dinos in the fourth was deflated and Alberta early lead of 5-1 extended to 14-6 later in the set. They went on to win the set 25-22, staving off a late comeback attempt from the Dinos.
Despite the Dinos loss, Gurnsey was pleased with the overall performance of the weekend, including Friday night's upset of the Pandas.
"It's huge to come out of this weekend with a split. No matter how the night went, when you get a split off a top team in the country, it's huge for us. It should be expected against an Alberta team and now we have to go and get some sweeps."
The Dinos head out to Saskatchewan to take on the Huskies, Nov. 7-8.