EDMONTON – The University of Alberta Pandas volleyball team booked a ticket to the CIS championship tournament by rallying back from a 2-1 match deficit to defeat the two-time defending Canada West champion UBC Thunderbirds 3-2, in the opening game of the 2015 Canada West Final Four championship on Thursday at the Saville Community Sports Centre.
With the win Alberta advances to the conference gold medal game on Friday at 8:30 p.m. MST, where they will face either the UBC-Okanagan Heat or the Trinity Western Spartans. They will be vying for their first Canada West title since 2012, and they are assured their first appearance in the national championship tournament since 2013.
Pandas' outside hitter, and Canada West first team all-star Meg Casault led all players on the court in kills, with 17, while teammates Kacey Otto and Josephine Doerfler added 13 each. Libero Jessie Niles recorded a match high 23 digs to earn U of A player of the game honours.
"There were times tonight where Jessie kept us in the game," said U of A head coach Laurie Eisler. "She kept giving us hope because UBC was swinging high and hard and we had no solution for it at the net, but she kept the ball off the floor at let us rally."
Although statistically outplayed, the Pandas earned the win on the strength of their service game, which picked up 10 aces on the night compared to just three by UBC. The T-Birds, however, did record a better hitting percentage (.180 to .126), more digs (84 to 77) and more blocks (14 to seven).
"We knew we had to get them out of their system, and that happens with tough serving," added Eisler. "It's really tough to serve aggressive at this time of year, because there is so much pressure, so it really shows the level of toughness we have and the level of commitment to stick with the game plan."
The Thunderbirds were offensively led by Rosie Schlagintweit, who cranked out 15 kills, while 2014 CIS player of the year Lisa Barclay added 14.
Alberta and UBC have combined to win 13 of the last 20 CIS championship titles, with the Pandas doing victory poses six times in-a-row between 1995 to the year 2000, and again in 2007, while UBC also claimed six in-a-row from 2008 to 2013. The powerhouse programs have also combined to win 17 of the last 20 conference banners handed out, with Alberta triumphing in 1995, '96, '97, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008 and 2012, while UBC was crowned in 1998, '99, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014.
"The Canada West championship is top priority," stated Eisler. "It is an honour to play for that championship because of the strength of our conference, and you want to enter the CIS championship as the conference champion."
Alberta, however, had to come back from a 2-1 match deficit against the T-Birds in order to secure their spot in the conference gold medal final.
After opening the match with a spectacular 30-28 win, in a set that featured the two teams battling through tremendous rallies and trading massive kills, the Thunderbirds responded strongly by winning 25-19 in the second set, followed by a 25-22 third set victory.
The Pandas dug deep in the fourth, with their season on the line, and gutted out the 25-18 win to force a fifth and deciding set.
In the fifth Alberta opened with leads of 3-1 and 4-2, but UBC battled back to tie the match at 6-6. The match took a turn in favour of the Evergreen and Gold when UBC committed an attack error to give Alberta an 8-6 lead at the technical timeout. From there the Pandas went up 13-9, but the defending champs scored a quick pair to make it 13-11. Alberta picked up the match winning points with a block that landed on the UBC floor, followed by a kill by Doerfler.
"I think we've really developed some resiliency and toughness," said Eisler. "We knew our back was against the wall, and that we needed to play the way we needed to play to win. I'm really proud of them because it would have been easy to let that one go down 2-1 against a team like UBC."
The Pandas will now await the winner of TWU vs UBC-Okanagan in the Canada West gold medal match. Alberta recorded a 2-0 record against the Spartans this season, and a 1-1 record against UBC-Okanagan. UBC, meanwhile, will meet the loser of the Spartans-Heat game for the conference bronze medal tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. MST.