EDMONTON – Isaac Heslinga ripped home eight of his match-high 24 kills in the fourth set, leading the U SPORTS #2 ranked Alberta Golden Bears to a thrilling 3-2 win over the third-ranked Winnipeg Wesmen on Saturday night at Saville Centre.
Heslinga was unstoppable in the deciding set, finishing the match with just two attack errors on 47 total attempts. Third-year Bear Sam Drybrough turned in a career-high 52 assists, to go along with four assisted blocks and nine digs.
The win is the third-straight for Alberta, moving them to 7-3 in conference play. The pair of losses to the Bears drops Winnipeg to 5-3.
Taking just under two and a half hours, the Golden Bears gutted out a thrilling 24-22 fifth set victory after dropping the fourth set 25-20. Each team had four match points each in the fifth, with Grayden Wiebe’s block on Alberta’s fifth match point clinching the win. Billy Johnstone added 11 kills on 15 attempts, with Jacob Sargent adding 10 on 29.
Alberta held a statistical lead in just about every category, including blocks (16-4), kills (61-59), points (87.5-67.5), and aces (10-4). The Bears did, however, commit 20 service errors, a common outcome with an aggressiveive service approach.
Liam Kristjanson led Winnipeg with 16 kills on 25 attempts, with Nigel Nielsen adding 15.
Alberta will visit the UBC Okanagan Heat next weekend in Kelowna.