Meg Casault fired a match high 22 kills to lead the University of Alberta Pandas volleyball team to a come-from-behind 3-2 win over the No. 4 ranked Manitoba Bisons Friday, November 22 afternoon at the Saville Community Sports Centre.

The sophomore outside hitter, who is in her first year as a starter, also recorded a .286 hitting percentage, on match high 49 attempts, as well as 15 digs and five block assists to lead Alberta to its third consecutive victory, and fifth in the past seven matches.

Fellow sophomore Karly Janssen chipped in 18 kills for Alberta, while second-year setter Annie Abbott had 42 helpers and a team high three aces.

The sixth-ranked Bisons, who entered the contest with a 5-3 record, were paced by 19 kills from Rachel Cockrell, as well as 16 from Taylor Pischke. Setter Brittany Habing banked six kills, a .500 hitting percentage, 45 aces and three aces in the match as well.

The two sides were neck-and-neck through the first few points of the opening set, but once Alberta opened a three-point gap, at 9-6, they rolled from there. After increasing to 10-7, consecutive kills by Casault, and an ace from Abbott, gave Alberta a six point advantage to work with. Although the Bisons cut it to within two points, at 16-14, the Pandas soon regained momentum and were back in front, this time by a 20-15 score. The two teams then evenly split the next eight points, but Casault finished the Bisons off with a kill to win the first set 25-20.

However, everything went right for Manitoba in the second set, as they opened with a 7-2 run, and added a 5-1 run midway through to claim the commanding 25-15 win. The Bisons saw their attack percentage climb from .061 in the first to .400 in the second, and Cockrell scored three kills, Pischke notched four, while Habing added two and an ace as the Bisons evened the match.

After dividing the first seven points of the third set in favour of Manitoba, 4-3, it looked like the visitors were going to cruise to another victory as they rattled off a 5-0 run to earn a big 9-3 advantage early on. Although the Pandas closed the gap to within two points shortly thereafter, Manitoba ballooned it back up to six points at the technical timeout with a 16-10 lead.

Four straight Panda points, after the break, once again cut the lead to two, but a 4-0 run by Manitoba took the score to 20-14. A pair of attack errors by the Bisons seemed to spark Alberta, and they proceeded to earn the six of the next seven points, but Ken Bentley's team shook that off to pick up four of the next five points and win the set 25-22.

Up 2-1, Manitoba could not strike quickly for the win, and they found themselves trailing Alberta 16-15 at the technical timeout. A quick 3-0 burst by the Bisons made it interesting, but Casault pumped three points off the Bisons' blocking to pace Alberta to a 25-20 fourth set win.

The Pandas played their best ball of the afternoon in the fifth, as their offence connected on a .333 hitting percentage and staked themselves to a 10-5 lead very quickly. Janssen scored two kills in the final few points, and Abbott picked up her final assist as the Pandas won 15-7 to complete the match comeback.

Alberta now has a 5-4 record, as do the Bisons, and the two teams will clash again on Saturday, November 23 night, this time at 5 p.m. MT.

Alberta Pandas vs. No. 4 Manitoba Bisons

Final:

            1      2      3      4       5         Final

UofA-   25    15    22     25     15           3

UofM-  20     25    25    20       7           2

AB kill leader: Meg Casault with 22  

MB kill leader: Rachel Cockrell with 19