Dinos put up fight against No. 2 Pandas

CALGARY – Fifth-year outside hitter Kory White had a record-setting night for the University of Alberta Pandas, leading her side to a 3-1 win (25-21-24-26, 25-16, 25-13) over the University of Calgary Dinos at the Jack Simpson Gym.

With her fourth kill of the game late in the first set, White became the Canada West’s all-time kills leader, surpassing the previous record of 1321, set by Pandas alumna Meg Casault. The Edmonton native finished Friday night with 23, giving her 1341 kills in her career.

The win sees the Pandas improve to 14-1.

Despite the setback, which moved them to 4-11 on the season, it was a strong effort for the Dinos against the No. 2-ranked team.

Dinos head coach Christine Biggs supported her team’s determination in the first two sets.

“Our first two sets were well executed despite the first one not going in our favour. I think we were doing the things we had trained and the things that we had prepared for game plan-wise. We stuck to tactics and then the execution was there to support it.”

The first set came down to the wire with Calgary and Alberta exchanging points throughout. After White’s record-setting kill, the Pandas pulled away late for a 25-21 win in the opening set.

The Pandas got off to a hot start and used an early 5-1 run to take the lead in the second set. The Dinos would not back down and tied the game at 9-9 off a powerful kill by Sophie Reed. From there, Calgary put together one of their strongest sets of the season and handed Alberta only their sixth set loss of the year.

“It’s encouraging and exciting for all of us to see that we can play at that level and have success against one of the top teams in the country right now according to the rankings. That’s a big positive for us. (Now) it’s building to sustain that (success) three matches in a row.”

The third set saw a string of runs by both sides, but it was the Pandas who were able to assert themselves best. After the Dinos had cut the visitor’s lead to three mid-way through the set, the Alberta offence showed how relentless they are, pulling away with a 25-16 win.

Alberta wasted no time capturing their 14th win of the season they used a 7-1 run to get past Calgary and win the fourth set 25-13.

Kenzie Vaandering continued her impressive play for Calgary, recording 13 kills, eight digs, one service ace, and one block. Reed also had a notable performance with 12 kills and four digs.

In addition to White’s performance, Alberta received nine kills from Lauryn Tremblay and eight from Erin Corbett.

The Dinos and Pandas meet again Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Find all the action on Canada West TV, presented by Co-op.