EDMONTON - Facing the Alberta Pandas for the second straight weekend, the Calgary Dinos couldn't find their game on Friday, dropping a 3-1 decision (25-14, 25-16, 18-25, 25-15), and giving up Game 1 of the quarterfinals in the process.
Third-year outside hitter Krista Zubick contributed 11 kills for the home team and had a game-high five aces. Her teammates, Tiffany Proudfoot and Jaki Ellis, each added four aces of their own and also tied for second on the team with nine kills on the evening.
Calgary's third-year left side Lindsey Doland led the visitors with 11 kills while fourth-year setter Sarah Lacny had a game-high 28 assists.
The Dinos, who won the Friday night contest last weekend against the Pandas as the regular season wound down, got off to a good start in the opening set by earning a 2-0 lead, only to commit a net error and start a back-and-forth between the provincial rivals as they hit the first technical timeout.
Unfortunately for the visitors, errors would plague them, not only giving Calgary a 0.0% attack rating in the first set, but also providing Alberta seven straight points off Dino errors to give the Pandas a 1-0 set advantage.
The second set took an even greater turn for the worse for the fifth-best team in the conference for hitting percentage, dipping into negative territory while the Pandas dealt more aces and improved their own attack percentage for a 2-0 set lead.
Yet the Dinos showed resolve in the third set, with Calgary native Doland initiating a 7-2 run and following with four kills in an ensuing 9-2 run to put the Dinos up 18-8.
A trio of Ellis aces began an 8-1 run to narrow the score, but Calgary still kept the momentum as its defence continued a seemingly endless rally before forcing Pandas outside hitter Alyssa Jones to attack wide.
More errors by Alberta finished off the set and brought the Dinos back into the match, sporting a 35.7% attack rating to the Pandas' 3.1%.
It was then time for third-year Ellis to take centre stage, though, as the Mississauga, ON native got the home team's first point as well as the last, ending game one with a killer soft touch into the Calgary court, her sixth kill in the final set.
The third-year, who had a dominating performance two weeks ago in the final regular season volleyball contests at the U of A's Main Gym, continued to express her talents with a game-high 42.1% attack rating to add to her kills and aces.
Game 2 of the best-of-three series goes tomorrow at 7 PM MT. Game 3, if necessary, will be 3 PM MT on Sunday.
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