EDMONTON, AB – It took a set to find their top gear, but the U SPORTS #1 Alberta Pandas began their Canada West title defence with a 3-1 win over Winnipeg in Game 1 of their quarter-final series.
The Pandas dropped the opening set, before rolling off three convincing set wins to move one win closer to hosting the Canada West Final four next weekend.
First team CW All-Star
Abby Guezen led the top-seeded Pandas with 15 kills, adding an ace and 2.5 blocks.
Laila Johnston scored 13 kills for Alberta, while fifth-year setter
Justine Kolody dished out a match-high 41 assists.
Known more for her blocking and defence, second team CW All-Star
Ronnie Dickson added a career-high 11 kills in the middle for the Pandas to go along with 4.5 blocks and 15.5 total points.
"Carolyn does a great job setting us up for success. Sticking to our gameplan was helpful. We were a little nervous in the first, and I think we just needed to get that out of our system," said Dickson. "We had the mindset of starting fresh in the second set. Our team is so deep, and it goes back to the hard work we put in every day. We have a great team culture."
For the visitors, Brooke Duncalfe led the Wesmen with nine kills on 43 attempts, with Ella Werbiski adding eight.
The Wesmen took advantage of a sloppy first set from the Pandas, earning a 25-23 win. Despite finishing with five fewer kills, the Wesmen had four fewer service errors, and one less passing and receiving errors.
Winnipeg also had depth on attack, with each Kendziora, Werbiski, and Duncalfe scoring two kills each. Guezen led the Alberta offence with four kills on 11 attempts in the first.
Alberta found their offensive rhythm in the second set, scoring 16 kills on just 31 attempts, finishing with a .419 attack efficiency. Dickson was stellar in the second, scoring five kills on her own on just six attempts, to go along with five kills from Johnston and four from Guezen.
Winnipeg had seven fewer kills in the second and were also blocked four times by the Pandas.
The strong play from the Pandas carried over into the third, as they continued to display their offensive firepower and depth. Alberta had 14 kills in the third, while adding four blocks and an ace. Guezen started to take over the match as well, adding four more kills to bring her total to 12 through three sets.
On the other side of the net, the Wesmen struggled to find the floor, scoring 10 kills on 27 attempts, adding eight errors in the third.
The story didn't change much in the fourth, with Alberta finishing with an 11-5 kill advantage, adding four more blocks, and six-fewer attack errors than Winnipeg in the fourth.
Game 2 is set for 6:00 p.m. tomorrow night at Saville Community Sports Centre.
