EDMONTON - There wasn't much separating two of the top teams in CIS women's volleyball, but what gaps did exist, allowed the No. 2-ranked Pandas to score a straight sets (25-23, 25-23 and 25-22) victory over the No. 3-ranked Dinos Friday night in the U of A's Main Gym.
BOX SCORE
When it was all said and done, the Dinos had committed 21 attack errors to Alberta's 20; the Pandas recorded 40 digs Calgary had 37; Alberta had six aces and Calgary rolled three. But where the game was won and lost was at the net as the Pandas scored on 21 per cent of their attacks, while Calgary scored on 15 per cent and defensively, Alberta accumulated nine blocks to the Dinos' two.
"We had no rhythm offensively tonight," said Dinos coach Jesse Knight. "Our start was slow, and we were just never able to find that rhythm. There were positives, I liked the way we fought, but we need to come out better tomorrow night."
Jocelyn Blair and Kelci French were the offensive stars for the defending Canada West champion Pandas, recording 15 and nine kills respectively, but fourth-year setter and team captain Darryl Roper was the catalyst.
The St. Albert native dished out 36 assists, while banking two kills, two aces, eight digs and five combined blocks. She was either the Pandas leader in most stat categories or tied for the lead as she directed her teammates to an impressive win over the No. 3-ranked Dinos, who now hold a 5-2 record in conference action.
Coming into the weekend, the two rivals had played to five sets in eight of their last ten overall games with the other two matches going to four sets, including last season's CIS bronze medal game, which the Dinos won in five sets.
The teams see-sawed through all three sets, trading points and momentum back and forth in a match that, several times, could have gone either way. On numerous occasions, both teams respectively held decent leads only to watch the pendulum swing the other way, courtesy a service error or wayward attack. In fact, the teams combined for 12 errors from the service line and 41 errors on the attack.
It was Alberta's blocking game, highlighted by the play of middles Samantha Wojtkiw and Alexa Berton, which proved to be the deciding factor. They combined for eight blocks, while also chipping in with 11 kills.
When the blocking was beat, Roper, Blair and French were there to dig up the Dino attack and pound it back over for a point. Blair in particular was nigh unstoppable on the offensive while the freshman French showed sound decision-making with a clutch roll-shot late in the third set to give the Pandas breathing room at 24-22.
Holly Harper was the top Dino with nine kills and nine digs while Laura Wilson added seven. Julie Young and Lauren Perry chipped in with five and setter Sarah Lacny had 33 assists and two aces.
The win bumps Alberta's record to 9-0, which they'll look to increase to 10-0 when they hook-up with the Dinos again tomorrow evening at 6:15 pm in the Main Gym.
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