EDMONTON - The Alberta Golden Bears ripped a season-high 12 service aces to lead to a 3-1 (25-16, 18-25, 25-16, 25-20) Saturday evening victory to sweep the weekend series over the MRU Cougars at the Saville Centre.
Fourth-year setter Luke Waddell led the way with four aces, tying a career-high, while Jacob Sargant and Trent Cherewaty added three apiece in the win. The Bears offence was uncharacteristically quiet in this one, as the Cougars held them to their lowest attacking percentage this season at .181, and thus leaned on the serve and the blockline heavy in the victory. Sargant did lead the game with 12 kills, while Waddell orchestrated well with 33 assists. Alberta moves to an all important 7-1, good for third in the conference, as they matchup with the 7-1 Trinity Western Spartans next weekend.
The MRU Cougars improved markedly on the defensive side of the net in the contest, recording ten blocks and forcing a ton of Alberta attacking errors with their netfront presence. However, the offence was still tepid for the majority of the match, as they rocked a worse .149 hitting percentage and were largely unable to take advantage of Bear mistakes. Kale Orr paced the squad with 11 kills, the second straight night he accomplioshed that feat, while Isaac Karstead recorded five total blocks. They are done for 2025, as their next contest comes against Manitoba in the new year.
The Bears picked up where they left off in last night's game, as they hopped out to a quick 13-8 lead forcing an MRU timeout. They would continue to roll, eventually forcing another timeout at 17-10, with Trent Cherewaty and Dylan Martens leading the way. The set would end up at 25-16, with Martens pacing all attackers with four kills in the frame. The Cougars were simply unable to get anything of substance against a strong Alberta blockline, and in the inverse, struggled to stop a Bears attack that hit .350 in the set.
The Cougars got their mojo back at the beginning of the second set, hopping out to an 11-8 lead and forced some Bears miscues. They would continue to put the pressure on the home team, eventually winning the frame 25-18. Kale Orr was stellar, leading the set with five kills, but the Cougars offence as a whole got back on track with a .222 attacking percentage. They also were able to stifle a Bears offence that to this point in the weekend faced little opposition, holding them to a .097 mark as they looked to continue to build upwards.
Alberta got back in the groove for the third set, as they utilized a strong attack and some unbelievable serving to take back the momentum with a 25-16 win. They recorded six aces in the frame, including three from Cherewaty and two from Sargant, as their counterparts recorded eight errors on the serve.
Setter Luke Waddell took over for the Bears to begin the fourth set, recording three straight aces to continue the momentum built over the last set from the service line. While the attack was lacking at points, the blockline was able to prevent too dangerous of a Cougar response. The turning point came in a 16-16 deadlock, when Waddell was able to save a point with a diving pancake reception that led to an MRU attack error. From there, they would cruise to a 25-20 set and match win.
