EDMONTON – The No.1 ranked University of Alberta Pandas women's volleyball team improved to a perfect 9-0 on the season thanks to a straight sets (25-22, 25-17 and 25-20) win over the Manitoba Bisons on Friday, November 20 night at the Saville Community Sports Centre.

The victory temporarily vaults the Pandas into first place in the Canada West standings, ahead of both UBC and Trinity Western. Both of those British Columbia based squads are also nationally ranked, with TWU sitting No.2 in CIS and UBC holding down the No.6 tanked, and both are also undefeated at 8-0.

Manitoba meanwhile, CIS champions in 2014, drop to 1-8 on the season.

Alberta had tremendous success on Friday night with the middle game, and at the service line. The Pandas got seven kills from sophomore middle Shauny Hogg, and as a team they spun 10 aces on the Bisons, including three each from Hogg and Kacey Otto.

Setter Mariah Walsh chipped in with a pair of aces as well; while Meg Casault scored a team high 13 kills.

The Bisons were led offensively by rookie right-side Cassidy Pearson, who recorded a team high nine kills, while Kalena Schulz and Haillie Bujan each picked up six kills apiece.

While Manitoba did bank five aces, including two from Jordana Milne, they did also commit six service errors.

Alberta was simply the sharper team on offence, earning a .155 hitting percentage while Manitoba had just a .056. In fact, the highest the Bisons got to was .143 in the opening set when they scored 22 points on the Pandas.

The Pandas took over after the opening match seemed to be a bit the sort of set where both teams were testing each other. Laurie Eisler's had little trouble with the rest of the match, winning 25-17 and 25-20 to take the straight sets victory.

Fifth-year U of A libero Jessie Niles continued her assault on the Canada West record book as she moved into third place in all-time Canada West conference digs. Niles now has 1,116 digs in her career to date. She trails Saskatchewan Huskies alumnus Elaine Lee, who sits in second place with 1,124, and Simon Fraser's Laura Mireault who holds the record with 1,157.

Alberta and Manitoba will clash again tomorrow evening at 7 p.m. MT.