EDMONTON – Fourth-year outside hitter Meg Casault served up a monstrous performance for the No.4 University of Alberta Pandas, recording 24 kills, three aces, seven digs, and 2.5 blocks in a straight-sets victory (25-12, 28-26, 25-23) over the University of Calgary Dinos, Friday night at Saville Community Sports Centre.
The Edmonton native netted almost half of Alberta's kills on the evening and ranks second in the nation with 4.34 kills per set; with three matches remaining in her regular season, she's already only 12 away from her career-best 316 kills in a single season. Third-year setter Mariah Walsh added a game-high 45 assists, also ranking second in CIS with 9.94 assists per set.
Fourth-year outside hitter Amber Adolf had a team-high nine kills for the visiting Dinos, sophomore setter Erika Myhre earning a team-high 27 assists. The Pandas improve to 17-4 to place third in Canada West, in firm possession of a home playoff series but still within striking distance of first to host the Final Four and net a first-round playoff "bye". The Dinos drop to 9-12, slipping a bit behind Mount Royal which now holds onto the seventh and final playoff spot alone.
Unsurprisingly, Casault started things off in the first set with two of Alberta's first three points, finishing off the Pandas' opening 9-0 run with one of her three block assists in the match.
The multiple Canada West All-Star scored seven kills in a first set where the Alberta offence was on fire, attacking at a 64% clip, adding 6-2 and 6-1 runs to get the score to 21-6. Though the Dinos got their score to double digits, outside hitters Karly Janssen and Gbemisola Olutogun finished off the set, Calgary native Olutogun making a quick volley to the Dino back court for the 1-0 set lead.
The second set was a much tighter affair between the provincial rivals, however, going point for point throughout most of it, save for a 6-1 Dino run that kept the road team ahead just enough before Casault knocked back two kills and an ace to equalize the scoreboard at 21-21.
From then on, the set was back up for grabs, both teams having a chance to win in extra points before fourth-year Kacey Otto spun a kill down the sideline for the penultimate point, a Jaylynn Moffatt attack by Calgary going long to help Alberta improve their set lead to two. The momentum the Pandas earned on their comeback propelled them to an early 7-3 lead in the final set, but the Dinos didn't give up that easily, fighting back to reduce the deficit to one a couple times before grabbing hold of the lead at 19-17.
Casault, with the help of Janssen, brought Alberta even twice, even pulling ahead 23-22 before Myhre snuck in a small tip over the net to equalize at 23, potentially bringing the match to extra points again.
Yet Casault responded with a cross-court kill to the back right corner and capped off the game with a snipe of an ace that forced Myhre to send the ball sailing towards the officials' desk.
The two squads finish off the weekend series in Edmonton with game two going at approximately 6:30 p.m. MT on Saturday.
