EDMONTON — The University of Alberta Golden Bears may be the defending national champions, but that didn’t mean the Canada West conference championship wasn’t in their sights.
After losing to the Trinity Western Spartans in the conference final the past two seasons (2020, 2022), the Bears got redemption against their arch rivals after a thrilling four-set victory (25-22, 23-25, 25-19, 25-22) on Friday night at the Saville Community Sports Centre to win their 14th Canada West conference title, and first since 2015.
Jordan Canham led the Bears with 13 kills, while Isaac Heslinga had 12. Grayden Wiebe and Jacob Sargent recorded nine and seven kills respectively, while combining for seven aces.
Brodie Hofer led the Spartans with 23 kills in the loss.
“We talked a lot about it this week about how much we value the conference title and it’s something we evaluated a lot over the last few years. It’s been a few years of us really battling and wanting to win this thing, because it means a lot,” said Bears head coach Brock Davidiuk.
“It was the Spartans who taught us that. When they beat us in the 2020 conference final, we watched the video of how they responded and how they reacted when they won, and we saw how much it meant to them to win that. We needed to be at that level at this point in the season.”
When two powerhouse programs collide like Alberta and Trinity Western, it can make for an instant classic, and the conference final didn’t disappoint. Both teams went toe-to-toe, making each point scored so important. There simply was no room for error.
“Every time we play the Bears, it’s a battle and when we play each other in March, it’s even closer,” said Spartans interim co-head coach Adam Schriemer. “The margins for error in this match were so slim, and the moment one team flinched, it felt like the set was over.
“This loss completely stings. This was one of our checkpoints. We wanted to win two banners, and we wanted to win the Canada West banner first.”
Alberta took the opening set 25-22, and neither team held more than a two-point lead, until the Bears earned the set win with an ace from Sargent.
Alberta held the lead almost the entire way in the second set, before the Spartans tied the set at 23-23 and then rallied to win the second set 25-23, thanks to a kill from Hofer and a service ace from Mathias Elser.
The Bears took a 6-5 lead in the third set and didn’t relinquish the lead the rest of the way on the strength of Wiebe’s back-to-back service aces to finish the set.
In the fourth set, Alberta took the lead at 13-12, and held on for another tight set win.
“One of the advantages of playing in the Canada West conference is there are so many teams that aren’t going to let you take your foot off the gas. We have to be bold enough and know how to play in close sets, because that’s the type of game you’re in this time of year,” said Davidiuk.
“They have such a strong team, and there has been a lot of respect and a lot of court battles over the years with these two programs, and tonight there was some very high level volleyball played between us.”
Next on the calendar for both teams will be the 2023 U SPORTS Championship, hosted by the McMaster Marauders in Hamilton, Ontario.
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