CIS women's volleyball Friday roundup: No. 2 Pandas serve No. 1 T-Birds their first loss

KINGSTON, Ont. - The Queen's Gaels (6-3) faltered against the struggling Ryerson Rams (3-6)  tonight, losing in four sets 3-1 (25-8, 21-25, 19-25, 21-25).
 
Despite winning the first set in convincing fashion, the Gaels would drop the next three consecutive sets to the visiting Rams.
 
Natalie Gray of Oshawa, Ont. and Kelsey Bishop of North Vancouver, B.C., were in fine form for the Gaels, swinging home 18 and 11 kills respectively.
 
Rookie Chelsea Briscoe of Georgetown, Ont. led the Rams offensively with 12 kills, while Carli Yim of Markham, Ont. (17 digs) and Emily Nicholishen of Whitby, Ont., (11 digs) led the team defensively.
 
Becky Billings of Ottawa, Ont., while being held to eight kills on 25 attempts, dug up 13 efforts by the Rams and was a constant presence on the court.
 
The Gaels return to the court when they visit the Guelph Gryphons on January 7, 2011.

Source: Queen's Sports Info

CALGARY – There wasn't much to separate the two teams – just three points, in fact – but the No. 10 Calgary Dinos came away with a come-from-behind 3-2 victory (20-25, 25-20, 23-25, 25-23, 15-12) over the UBC Okanagan Heat Friday night to open the final weekend of the regular season before the December break.
 
Led by a first-rate outing from Lindsey Doland, the Dinos trailed and played from behind in all three of their set victories to improve to 5-6 on the season. UBC Okanagan drops to 2-7.
 
Calgary was pushed to the limit by a determined Heat squad, but managed to pull out the win 15-12 in the fifth set after coming back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits in the match.
 
“UBC O challenged us defensively and we couldn't put the ball away early, and there was a lot of frustration around that,” said first-year Dinos head coach Natalie Schwartz. “We struggled to create any momentum or flow in our offence, but other than that we defended very well. With Jordhynn Guy and Emma Pederson coming in off the bench, they opened up a different offence for us, and they did a really good job.”
 
Guy replaced fifth-year setter Sarah Lacny midway through the second set, while freshman Pedersen spelled the struggling Courtney Dawson and Melanie Miazga and turned in a solid performance in four sets. But it was Doland that sparked the Dinos, recording 20 kills on the night and providing much of the offence in a pivotal set number two as Calgary turned an 18-12 deficit into a 25-20 win by ending on a 13-2 run.
 
“It was a big night for her in a lot of ways, because she was struggling offensively early and typically that would take her out of a match,” said Schwartz. “But she kept working and finding different ways to score, and she was rewarded with a big night.”
 
All five sets were tight and could have easily gone the other way as the Heat built up early leads in all five and forced the Dinos to play from behind most of the night. The tandem of Alex Basso and Katy Klomps led the way for UBC Okanagan with 13 kills apiece, while Myrte Schon chipped in with a dozen. Middle Kendra Wayling was their leading defensive player with 16 digs, while Klomps was involved in six of the Heat's nine blocks on the night.
 
Outside Doland's 20-kill, 30 per cent performance, Calgary got big contributions from Maura Hayes with 14 kills off the bench and Ali Sandholm with 13 kills and zero errors for a 48 per cent efficiency. Hayes and libero Brooke Halverson shared the digs lead with 13 each, while Pedersen had a hand in three of the Dinos' seven team blocks.
 
Calgary hit 24.2 per cent on the night, edging the Heat's 21.6 per cent.
 
The two teams lock horns one more time Saturday night in the Jack Simpson Gym, with first serve at 6 p.m. MT live on CanadaWest.tv.

Source: Calgary Sports Info

EDMONTON - The No.2 ranked University of Alberta Pandas’ volleyball team used superior serving and blocking to hand the No. 1 ranked, and four-time defending CIS champions UBC Thunderbirds, their first loss of the season, a five set decision (19-25, 25-17, 17-25, 27-25, and 18-16) on Friday night at the Saville Community Sport Centre in Edmonton.

Alberta, coming off back-to-back splits with No.4 Winnipeg and No.5 Manitoba, received 11 kills from fourth-year veteran Krista Zubick, while Caitlin Buckell and Alena Omelchenko each added eight.  Buckell, a veteran middle, also notched two aces, while setter Alyssa Jones picked up five kills, 15 assists and three aces.  Middle Jenice Warkentin added five kills and two aces, and was involved in five blocks, while setter Jaki Ellis had six kills, 28 assists and one ace.

The Thunderbirds had three players with double-digit kills, led by Lisa Barclay’s 17 and then followed by Shanice Marcelle’s 13 and 11 from Kyla Richey.

Both teams struggled with their attack however, or exceled on defence, as UBC’s attack percentage was a combined 14%, topping out at 27% (fourth set), while the Pandas had an 11% attack percentage that reached a peak of 23% in the final set.  With the win, Alberta improves to 7-2 on the season, while UBC drops to 8-1.

The Pandas spun a total of 11 aces on UBC, and combined for a total of 18 blocks, while the visitors scored just three aces, against 10 service errors, and 12 blocks.

It didn’t get off to a great start for Alberta, as the three-time defending Canada West champion T-Birds looked sharp in the opening set, winning 25-19.

The home side roared to life in the second set, however, opening up with a big lead of six points, four of which came off aces, but saw the Birds come storming back to within one point by the technical timeout.  Alberta was able to return to form after the break and put the visitors away handily 25-17 to tie the match.

Alberta opened with another decent start in the third set, but couldn’t sustain it as Richey and Barclay combined for seven kills which helped UBC to an easy third set win at 25-17 and a 2-1 match lead.

Buckell and Omelchenko lifted the Pandas in the fourth set, combining for seven kills and three aces as Alberta gutted out a tough 27-25 set win to push the match into the fifth and deciding frame.

Alberta looked ton have all the momentum on their side as the fifth got underway, starting with a slim two point lead, and carrying an advantage until UBC tied at 15.  Marcelle, the Canada West MVP last season, scored on back-to-back points from the left-side to put the T-Birds in front, but Alberta managed to rally to tie the score, thanks to an Omelchenko tip over the block, and won the match when they forced UBC into an attacking error.

The two teams will clash again tomorrow night this time at 7:30 pm MT in the Saville Community Sport Centre.

Source: Alberta Sports Info