BOX SCORE

EDMONTON - For the second-straight game, rookie outside hitter Alena Omelchenko led the No.4 Alberta Pandas to victory, this time a straight-sets win (25-17, 25-17, 25-21) over the Calgary Dinos, Friday night at the Saville Community Sports Centre in Edmonton.

The Almaty, Kazakhstan native had a game-high 14 kills while Jaki Ellis earned a game-high 18 assists.

Fourth-year outside hitter Andrea Price notched 10 kills for the Dinos in the loss with senior setter Sarah Lacny adding 13 assists and two aces.

Lacny's serving skills gave Calgary the early 3-1 lead, but Omelchenko, making her first of a half-dozen kills in the opening set, began a 5-0 run for the home team that gave them a lead they would never relinquish.

Helping Alberta was several attack errors by the Dinos squad, namely a few untimely ones when Calgary was just regaining momentum.

Unfortunately, the second set featured more of the same for the visitors, the Pandas opening up a 12-4 lead before the Dinos fought back to reduce the deficit to two, only to have errors by sophomore setter Jordhynn Guy and fourth-year left side Sarah Moncks aid Alberta back to a six-point lead and more before middle Caitlin Buckell's first kill of the night ended the second set.

In the final set, the Calgary attack shed its troubles and opened with a 7-3 lead, looking to extend the match to four sets, but a quick 6-0 Alberta run, highlighted by some deft Whitney Matheson kills, got the hometown crowd buzzing and paved the way for the Pandas' win.

The 8-7 Dinos and 10-5 Alberta will play their second game of the weekend tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. MT, back at the Saville Community Sports Centre.  

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