EDMONTON – In a far from relaxing match, left side/right sides Ryley Barnes and Ryan Nickifor led the way for the still undefeated and No.2 University of Alberta Golden Bears, winning in four sets (25-20, 23-25, 25-14, 25-22) over the tough and No.3 University of Calgary Dinos to earn victory in their final regular season home game as well as the weekend sweep, Saturday night at Saville Community Sports Centre.
Barnes and Nickifor spun a dozen kills each, the former also adding two aces, eight digs, and five block assists. Team captain Brett Walsh recorded a game-high 47 assists to continue his journey towards breaking the 3,000-assist plateau in career conference play.
Outside hitters Keith West and Curtis Stockton also shared the kill lead, both Dino athletes netting 11 while senior setter Jackson Maris added 35 assists.
The Bears, having already wrapped up first place in Canada West, now have the most wins in a single season in team history with 22, besting last season's total of 21. With two games left, Alberta still has a chance to equal their best winning percentage, going 18-0 in 2008-09 before winning the conference and national championships at home. Calgary drops to 17-5 but can still catch second-place Manitoba in the final weekend of play.
The opening set started with momentum swings, the home team Bears earning an early 4-0 lead before the Dinos responded with a 5-0 run of their own. Nickifor began a 6-0 run shortly thereafter, staking Alberta a lead they would never give up, despite Calgary threatening late when they got the score to 22-20.
Sophomore left side Alex McMullin got a quick attack to work at the net for Alberta, however, Barnes finishing things off with a cross-court kill from the left side and combining with senior middle John Goranson for a heavy block on the Dino attack.
Two of the top three teams in the nation then went neck-and-neck to launch the second set, but Calgary snuck in a few quick runs to build up a small lead, forcing the Bears to rattle off five straight points to make things interesting.
Though the Dinos had trouble finishing with West's set point heading into the net on the serve, graduating player Connor Frehlich put a kill of McMullin off the back row to tie the set score at one.
Yet Calgary couldn't bring this momentum with them into the next set, getting some points early on attack errors by Alberta, but struggling to put up their own offence as they managed only four kills and no aces while the Bears rolled along with a 14-4 run to get up 16-9 at the technical timeout and ending the Dinos' tough time soon after with an Arnett power move into the near corner at the net for a momentous 2-1 set lead.
Happy to refocus, Calgary started again with a promising 5-2 lead in the final set, but the two-time defending CIS champions slowly climbed back, the provincial rivals engaging in another point-for-point battle that left the set up for grabs, especially with infrequent errors from the service line permeating the Alberta ranks late in the set.
Unsurprisingly, however, Barnes came through in the clutch with a quick attack at the net that got underneath the Calgary defence before Nickifor earned the match point with a laser beam kill to the middle of the Dinos' court to continue the Bears undefeated streak.
Alberta finishes off the regular season next weekend in Winnipeg when they face off the Wesmen before hosting the Canada West Final Four in the first weekend of March. Calgary will return home to battle for second place in the conference when they host Manitoba.
