LANGLEY, BC – The Alberta Pandas will play for a national title, as they defeated the host Trinity Western Spartans in four sets in the U SPORTS semifinal on Saturday night in Langley.

It will be the second national final in three seasons under head coach Carolyn O'Dwyer, as they await the winner of the Sherbrooke vs Brock semifinal later tonight.

The Pandas scored 49 kills in Saturday's win over TWU, which comes one week after they defeated the Spartans in the Canada West Final. The U SPORTS Final will take place at 7:00 p.m. MT tomorrow night. It will be the 16th national final in team history for the Pandas, as they search for an eighth U SPORTS banner.

Fourth-year Panda Laila Johnston led the attack with 11 kills and four digs, earning player of the match honours. U SPORTS Player of the Year Abby Guezen added 14 kills and eight digs, while second team All-Canadian Justine Kolody had 44 assists and 12 digs.

Kaylee Plouffe led the Spartans with 17 kills, with Maryn Boldon adding 11. They will play for bronze on home court tomorrow afternoon.

After a close opening 10 points, the host Spartans were able to pull away from the Pandas en route to a 25-18 first set win. The Spartans were efficient on attack, scoring 11 kills with three aces, led by four kills on just six swings from Boldon.

The Pandas were tight early, committing errors on attack, serve, and serve receive. 14 total errors compounded a strong start for the Spartans.

The script completely flipped in the second, as the Pandas stole momentum with a 25-15 set win to tie the match at 1-1. Leading 17-12, the Pandas went on an 8-3 run to close out the second. Alberta scored 10 kills to just one error, with Guezen recording four. Alberta also turned up their service pressure and defence, scoring two aces and three blocks in the second. After a clean opening set, the Spartans fell back to earth, committing nine attack errors in the 10-point loss.

The Pandas led for the entirety of the third set, racing out to a 9-3 lead, fending off a late TWU rally, before taking a 2-1 lead with a 25-21 win. After six attack errors in the first set alone, the Pandas had just three in the second and third sets combined, scoring 25 kills in those two sets. Kolody was able to spread the ball around on offence in the third, dishing out 14 assists, with Johnston leading the charge with six kills.

As they did in the Canada West Final, the Pandas erased a massive fourth set deficit, taking the match with a 25-19 win. The Pandas trailed 7-3 and 12-6, burning both timeouts early. However, an Allie Moore service run sparked Alberta, who scored seven-straight points to jump ahead 13-12. Leading 19-18, the Pandas would then win six of the next seven points to secure the semifinal win.