EDMONTON – The No. 1-ranked Alberta Golden Bears are moving onto the Canada West Final Four after knocking off the University of Calgary Dinos men’s volleyball team 3-0 (19-25, 16-25, 17-25) at the Saville Community Sports Centre on Friday night.
The result sees the Golden Bears sweep the Dinos in their conference quarter-final series.
Helping his side sail to victory, Isaac Heslinga put down nine kills, adding five aces, with Luke Weddell setting the Bears up with 31 assists.
Across the net, fourth-year German Louis Kunstmann led the Dinos with nine kills, and Tyler Funk added an additional five kills to the score sheet.
“I think the guys showed effort,” said Dinos head coach Graham Vigrass. “But at this stage, effort is not the difference maker. They were a lot more crisp, a lot more aggressive in serve, and they gained momentum throughout the match, and we slowed down.”
A tug-of-war opening set had the crowd questioning when and who would take control. It ended up being Heslinga with four-straight aces who brought the Bears ahead 19-14 and cleared the path for their opening set win.
As the game got longer, the kills got stronger. Alberta put 13 kills on the scoresheet shared among six players and went up by two with a strong 25-16 second-set victory.
Needing to stay alive, the Dinos started the final set with a huge block and forced mistakes from the reigning national champions to go ahead 7-3 and forced a Golden Bears timeout.
After a quick run, a block from Alberta middle Trent Cherewaty brought the busy gym to their feet in euphoric celebration, evening the score. After another temporary power struggle, the home side again came out on top with a set tricking the gym and being put over the net courtesy of Weddel, taking the set and match to advance.
With the end of their season, Calgary graduates seniors Austin Ellchuk, Funk, Kunstmann, and Jackson Meier.
Alberta travels to Winnipeg next weekend for the Canada West Final Four.
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