WINNIPEG – The No.1 seed Alberta Pandas earned their second straight medal at nationals, knocking off the No. 2 seed UBC Thunderbirds 3-1 in the bronze medal game at IGAC. It was the second time Alberta knocked off the T-Birds in the post-season, following a win in the Canada West final the week before.

The Pandas have earned a medal in each of their last nine trips to the U SPORTS Championship, now having medalled in three of the last four seasons. 

"Obviously not the result we wanted yesterday; it kind of felt like nothing was going our way," said Pandas setter Justine Kolody. "But at the end of the day we still had a job to get done, so I'm proud of how we went about today. We still had a really great season, so we want to celebrate that for each other." 
 
The score was tied 43 different times, and featured 17 lead changes in a spirited affair. There were also 20 combined team blocks and 117 digs while 15 different players recorded a kill.
 
There were four ties in the first set, as the two sides combined for 35 digs and some spirited rallies.
 
The Pandas held two-point leads throughout, but UBC pushed back to take a 13-12 lead on an Issy Robertshaw back set to Lucy Borowski, who went cross court from the right for her third kill. The Thunderbirds added two more points from there, forcing a Pandas timeout, which paid of.
 
Alberta proceeded to score seven of the next eight points, and didn't trail for the rest of the set. Mackenzie Pool gave Alberta the lead at 17-16, going hard off the double block, and Ronnie Dickson followed that up with back-to back-aces as part of an impactful close to the first.
 
The Thunderbirds had set point on four occasions in set two, but Alberta fought it off each time, getting their own set point at 28-27 on a Ronnie Dickson block. But this time it was UBC who would not be denied.
 
An error resulted in the 13^th tie of the set following a long rally, which was a theme all throughout, and Kylie Glanville gave her side a 29-28 lead on a smash through a double block from the left.
 
Trinity Solecki, who had seven kills and seven digs, put the set two bed one point later on an ace. She led all UBC players with 8.5 points entering the third in a game where 15 different players had a kill entering set three.
 
The third set was another grind into the 20s. Alberta took a 21-19 lead on a Kolody ace, but UBC pushed back to tie the game at 22 following Glanville's 11th kill, cross court from the left.
 
Errors ultimately handed Alberta the third. The Pandas were also the more efficient team, hitting .281 and compared to .189 for UBC. Three straight errors (and 21 going into the fourth) made the different at the end as Alberta took the one set lead.
 
A one-point game was blown open in the 20s by Alberta in set four.
 
Abby Guezen put down three of her game-high 15 kills in Alberta's final five points, as the Pandas out-scored UBC 6-1 in the final seven points, to take the set 25-18 and the game 3-1.
 
Winnipeg native Kolody added a key ace, and had 12 digs, one of three Pandas with double digit digs on the day.
 
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