Ryley Barnes led the Bears with 18 kills, including ten in the second set, while Brett Walsh added 33 assists. Fourth-year hitter Roy Ching led the Bobcats with seven kills on 29 attacks on Friday night. 

Both squads opened the match tentatively, with neither team opening more than a three point lead through the first 20 points. However, the Bears deep offensive attack started to warm up in the later half of the first set, chipping away at the Bobcats and taking a 16-11 lead. Eight errors for Brandon, and four kills each for Barnes and Alex McMullin propelled the Bears to the 25-14 first set win. 

Similar to the start of the first, the second set started incredibly tight, with a huge block by Bruce Akubukaka cutting an early Bears lead to 5-4. Barnes started his massive second set with a huge kill to put the Bears up 16-11, forcing Bobcat coach Grant Wilson to call a timeout. Unfortunately for Brandon, it would have no impact, as Barnes ripped in the final two points of the set to give Alberta the 25-20 win. 

Alberta carried that momentum from late in the second set, coming out firing in the third, going up 12-4. Two service errors gave the Bobcats a glimmer of hope in the third set, cutting the deficit to 13-7. However, Brandon would return the favour with three straight errors of their own, falling behind 16-7. Brandon would never recover, dropping the third and final set 25-13. 

Offensive efficiency was the downfall for Brandon on Friday, as they compiled a measly nine percent hitting efficiency, compared to the Bears 35.9%. Barnes once again led the way for Alberta, hitting paydirt on 50% of his attacks (14/28). 

The win was the 11th straight for the Bears to start the season, placing them atop the conference standings with an 11-0 record. The Bobcats, meanwhile, fall to 4-7, and ninth overall in Canada West. 

The two teams will be back at it tomorrow night, with first serve for the rubber match set for 5:00 p.m. MT.