EDMONTON – In a bit of a gamble, the No.2 University of Alberta Golden Bears risked their season-long winning streak against the No.3 University of Calgary Dinos, but betting on another team effort, came up aces with a four-set victory (25-18, 20-25, 25-16, 25-23), Friday night at Saville Community Sports Centre.
Team-leading scorer Ryley Barnes was recording kills in spades, netting a team-high 19 while fourth-year right side/left side Ryan Nickifor was flush with 13 of his own. Team captain and heart of the club, Brett Walsh, added a game-high 45 assists.
Fourth-year outside hitter Curtis Stockton spun 19 kills for the visiting Dinos, third-year outside hitter Keith West chipping in 13 as well as a team-leading 12 digs. Senior setter Jackson Maris put up 40 assists. Alberta improves to 21-0 in Canada West, in firm possession of the first-round playoff "bye". The Dinos drop to 17-4, tying them for second in the conference with Manitoba with three games each left in the regular season.
With a balanced attack led by Nickifor early in the opening set, Alberta built an 18-9 lead before a small momentum swing shifted in favour of Calgary, but the Dinos encountered some ill-timed attack and block errors to return the momentum back to the two-time CIS defending champions, all too content to push the road squad to a 1-0 set deficit, aided by Connor Frehlich's serve hitting the net on match point to do just that. Yet Calgary refocused to open the second set, opening up a 6-1 lead despite Alberta's attempts to come back, including a thrilling rally where Barnes sacrificed his body into the officials' desk to keep the play alive, only to have the Dinos claim the point.
Nevertheless, the Bears managed to tie up the game at 15-15, but Stockton, who came into the match as the team scoring leader, rolled off five of the next six points for Calgary before third-year outside hitter Calvin Siebert served an ace off Nickifor and side-out to equalize the set score at one. The provincial rivals went point for point to start the third set, but a 10-1 run by the home team, fueled by an incredible 70% attack rating by Alberta in the set, put the Bears in the driver's seat, highlighted by Nickifor's impressive air assault, the 6'7" athlete vaulting himself to double-digit heights for his stratospheric kills, spinning three in a row to build the lead to 23-13 before sophomore left side Alex McMullin got match point off the block.
The fourth and final set returned to the nitty-gritty on the scoreboard, neither team giving their opponent much of an edge as the score drew even 13 times, yet veteran Bear Taylor Arnett found clutch points late with a power kill to tie the game up the final time at 22-22 and put another off the Dino block to set up match point.
Stockton replied to bring the score to 24-23, but Nickifor and Arnett blocked his next attempt straight down into Calgary's front court to end the game and keep their undefeated season alive.
The two squads finish off the weekend series in Edmonton with game two going at 5:00 p.m. MT on Saturday.
