EDMONTON – A hard-earned third-set comeback gave the No. 2 and undefeated Alberta Golden Bears their 12th straight-sets victory (25-17, 25-15, 28-26) of the season, earning this win over the No. 5 UBC Thunderbirds, Friday night at Saville Community Sports Centre.
 
Senior left side/right side scored a game-high 18.5 points off a game-high 14 kills as well as two aces and 2.5 blocks. Fourth-year setter Brett Walsh recorded a game-high 27 assists, further climbing the ranks of Canada West history by passing Trinity Western's Ben Ball (2,742; 2007-12) for third in all-time conference assists (2,746).
 
Senior middle Alex Russell (Surrey, B.C.) netted a team-high 11 kills for the Thunderbirds, sophomore setter Bryon Keturakis (Surrey, B.C.) adding 16 assists.
 
In a fairly quiet opening set, the Bears opened up a 5-1 lead off Barnes kills and a few UBC attack errors, but the T-Birds struggled from the service line, giving the Bears 10 points off errors on the serve.
 
It even stalled the momentum of a late 4-1 run, despite Alberta also having trouble at the line at the same time, allowing the Bears to get back into gear when Barnes let loose with a thunderous kill to get the score to 23-17 before sophomore left side Alex McMullin made the penultimate point with a quick dump at the net to surprise the 'Birds and earned match point with a kill off the UBC block.
 
With a 1-0 set lead, the Bears sunk their teeth into the middle set, attacking, blocking, and serving to an insurmountable 19-8 lead, even though Alberta had some trouble closing the set until UBC was again guilty of a service error, this time on set point.
 
Sensing the oncoming loss, the T-Birds fought hard in the final set, earning 6-1, 12-6, and even a late 18-13 lead but the two-time defending CIS champions would not lie down, slowly erasing the deficit until they finally equalized the score at 23-23.
 
Barnes got the Bears ahead with a monstrous kill to side centre court, but Keturakis responded with one of his own to force extra points.
 
Barnes replied with an attack of the block that flew into the officials' bench before third-year outside hitter Irvan Brar (Surrey, B.C.) kept things going with a power kill off McMullin in the back row.
 
Fourth-year middle Taylor Arnett then pushed the kill through the UBC block but a Barnes service error got the score to 26-26.
 
Arnett got the Bears ahead one final time with a cross-court effort that found an open area in the back of the court before Barnes notched one final kill when the T-Birds again had to recover off a dig heading to the Bears' side of the officials' bench, but ultimately came up unsuccessful to continue Alberta's winning streak. 
 
The now 17-0 Bears and 10-5 Thunderbirds meet again tomorrow for the rematch, game start going at 4 p.m. PT.