EDMONTON - The Alberta Golden Bears recorded 35 kills on just 53 attacks to cruise to a 3-0 (25-14, 25-14, 25-17) victory Friday night at the Saville Centre.

It was relatively smooth sailing for the national sixth-ranked Bears, who led for the entire contest save for the opening point in the third set. Jacob Sargent led the team with nine kills, and was joined by Matt Shand and Dylan Martens. With the victory, the Bears move to 14-5, and are within a game of the third-place UBCO Heat, who at the time of writing are down against UBC.

The Griffins had a variable day, showing some promise at times but never able to put together any semblance of resistance. They struggled in particular in the unforced error department, leading the Bears 14-to-six in that department. They fall to 0-19, but still sit second-last to the UFV Cascades.

Alberta hopped out to an early 10-2 lead in the opening set, forcing both MacEwan timeouts to be burned as they tried to contend with an offence hitting .625 at that point. Fabian Breitenbach, the lefty standout for the Griffins, was terrific at times with a team-high three kills, but he was a lone bright spot in a 25-14 Alberta set win. Dylan Martens paced the Bears with his three kills as well, as the hosts went 13-for-20 on the attack in a great opening frame.

While the second set was closer in score, the story was still similar, with a ferocious Bears attack hitting .533 in the frame to the Griffins goose egg .000. Matt Shand carried the torch for the hosts, with a set high four kills in the frame, while Keegan Hanrahan was stellar at the net for the Griffins recording two total blocks.

The third set was more of the same, with Sargent impressing for the Bears with five kills. The teams return to action tomorrow for the swan song of the regular season, as Alberta attempts to ratchet up the standings for a third-place seed before the playoffs.