BOX SCORE

EDMONTON - A riveting match between the No.4 Alberta Golden Bears and No.7 Calgary Dinos ended too soon for the visitors, the hometown Bears taking a straight-sets victory (27-25, 27-25, 25-20) for their fourth straight win Saturday night at the Saville Community Sports Centre in Edmonton.

Third-year left side Jay Olmstead led Alberta with 16 kills, putting his weekend total to 34, while fourth-year right side Mitch Irvine added 11 kills. Setter Jarron Mueller netted 30 assists.

Senior left side Levi Nutma, the most entertaining player on the court throughout the game, notched a dozen kills for Calgary and fourth-year left side Chris Hoag also broke the double-digit barrier with 10. Senior middle Graham Vigrass brought his assist total to 77 on the weekend with 34 in Saturday's match.

Coming off last night's 3-1 loss in which Alberta clinched a playoff spot, the Dinos looked for the weekend split, but resiliency by the Bears in the first two sets prevented Calgary from their 10th victory on the season.

Twice, the Dinos had a 24-23 lead to close out the set, but Olmstead drew Alberta even both times. Calgary also managed to get ahead 25-24, but the Bears fought back and forced the Dinos to make attack errors to take a 2-0 set lead.

Not helping the visitors, unfortunately, were several errors from the service line, totalling 11 after the first two sets with Greg Mann, earning six to overwhelm his three aces, and Nutma (four) being the worst offenders.

Calgary native Nutma did what he could on defence to keep the Dinos in the game, though, diving into the scoring table in the first set, hopping over the Calgary bench in the second set, and, in the most spectacular play of the night, jumped over the signboards at the back of the Dinos' end during the third set and flew into the second row of the stands for a successful dig that led to a Calgary point.

Yet it was Irvine who controlled the final set, grabbing three straight kills in an early 7-2 run for Alberta and driving home the final point for his seventh kill of the set, garnering a stellar 50% attack rating.

Still having a chance at first place in Canada West, the 12-4 Bears will stay home next weekend to host the 4-11 Regina Cougars while 9-7 Calgary, who managed to clinch a post-season berth by the end of the night, will host the 15-1 and conference-leading Trinity Western Spartans.

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