EDMONTON - The Alberta Golden Bears survived an early first set thriller to then take two straight for a 3-0 (33-31, 25-18, 25-20) sweep victory over the Mount Royal Cougars Friday evening at the Saville Centre.

The win, Alberta's fourth straight, was a tight three-setter that sees them move to 6-1 on the season, and leapfrog the Cougars (6-3) into fourth place in the Canada West. Matt Shand, with a game-high 16 kills, led an incredibly efficient Bears attack that hit .411 on the day and out-killed the Cougars by 19. Luke Waddell set up 38 assists, and Jacob Sargeant had 13 kills to join Shand in the offensive masterclass.

The Cougars, while incredible in a thrilling opening set, lost a bit of steam as the game went on, hitting .257 and finding little to no room past an Alberta blockline that recorded 9.5 total blocks. Kale Orr impressed for the visitors, leading with 11 kills and five digs.

The first set got out to an evenly matched start, with a Mount Royal twinge, until a 9-7 MRU advantage turned into an 11-9 Bears lead on the back of two Matt Shand kills. They would maintain a small advantage for the majority of the set, but an Alberta rotation error would kick off a three-point MRU swing that would knot the game at 24. It was an amazing extra period to the set, as both teams had no less than four chances to win on serve, but the Bears would eventually string two points together, bookended by an Owen Murray block, to take the set 33-31. Shand paced all players with eight kills in the set, as the Bears combined to hit .500 in the frame, while Kale Orr led the Cougars with seven.

The Bears would continue to roll with momentum, jumping out to a 9-5 lead in the second set buoyed in part by a .833 attacking percentage in the early frame. The hosts would continue to dominate throughout the frame, and while the end margin was a bit closer than it ought to have been owing to some unforced errors, they would finish up with a tidy 25-18 set win. The offence was stellar, but this set they cleaned up the defensive side of the ball to force the visitors to hit just .040 in the frame, while Jacob Sargeant led the way on the other side of the ball with five kills.

MRU would not go quietly, however, when they opened up a 9-5 advantage in the third set holding the Alberta attack to a goose egg hitting percentage. However, the home side would ride a loud home crowd to an 20-11 run from there, eking out a 25-20 set and match victory.

The two sides return to action tomorrow for their last regular season meeting of the season.