EDMONTON – Jordan Canham had 17 kills and five block assists to help the #1 U SPORTS ranked Alberta Golden Bears to a 3-1 (25-19, 22-25, 25-22, 25-21) victory over the Saskatchewan Huskies to take Game 1 of the Canada West Semi-Finals at the Saville Centre Friday night.
“I think our big theme tonight was to have energy, wherever we were,” said Bears captain Cam Kern, who added: “We knew the Huskies were a great defensive team and so we had to be energetic and aggressive with our actions.”
Aggressive they were, as they out-killed the visitors 54-41 and held a .330 to .206 percent advantage in the attacking department.
Huskies coach Sean McKay pointed to the attack as the difference in the game, stating: “We are not going to beat a good team if we are not firing offensively and we most certainly weren’t tonight.”
The hosts started the match with a hot hand, hitting .444 on a 9-5 run to start the game. Jordan Canham was a real leader for the Bears scoring a set-high five kills to go along with an ace and a block. The Huskies, propelled by Dylan Mortenson, would hang around the whole set but could never grab the momentum as Alberta took it 25-19.
The Huskies regrouped in the second, taking an early lead and never relinquishing it. Mortenson was again the standout for the visitors, logging a set-high seven kills in the set and driving the Saskatchewan attack who hit to the tune of a .231 mark in the frame. Equally as impressive was the Huskie backline, who consistently thwarted the number one attack in the conference in the hosts. They took the second 25-21 and knotted the match up at one apiece.
Alberta’s block line seemed to have added springs in their shoes in between sets as they dominated play around the net in the third and jumped out to a 10-3 early lead. They recorded five total blocks against the Huskies attack before the halfway point, and helped force an overall .241 visitor attacking percentage in the frame. Credit to Saskatchewan, who stayed in the hunt for the entire set with an improved second half, but the Alberta start was too much to overcome in a 25-22 host win. Isaac Heslinga was the heartbeat for a Bears attack that hit .458, himself getting seven kills and hitting .636.
“They got pretty hot from the baseline at a few points in the game,” said McKay regarding the strong defensive performance from the hosts.
The fourth set was a crescendo, of sorts, for the hosts as they maintained their stalwart blockline while adding a game-high 14 kills from the floor. They were not able to completely pull away from the Huskies during the set, who fought incredibly hard all night, but a strong second-half performance from Canham and the Bears was enough to lead to a 25-22 set and game victory.
Kern, with 47 assists, was named the Mikasa Player of the Game for the hosts; Isiah Mamer took it home for Saskatchewan after potting 10 kills on just 15 attempts in the match.
The squads return to action tomorrow night for Game 2 at the Saville Centre, as the Bears look to book a second-straight trip to the CW Finals.
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