BU women’s volley

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This article was published 10/02/2010 (6080 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BY DAVID LARKINS

The milestones just keep piling up for the Brandon University women’s volleyball team and these ones came with some drama.

The Bobcats, who Friday night scored their first ever victory against the Alberta Pandas, made it a sweep on Saturday and did it by posting the program’s first ever come-from-behind win when two sets down, beating the Pandas 3-2 (24-26, 21-25, 25-16, 25-18, 15-11) in Canada West conference action at the BU Gymnasium.

The win moved Brandon to 12-4 on the season and, combined with a Manitoba loss to UBC on Saturday, into sole possession of second place in the conference. It also officially secured their third straight trip to the post-season.

Never before had the Bobcats come back from a two-set deficit in conference play, but when you hold the No.4-ranked team in the nation to negative attack efficiency for three straight sets, some say you probably deserve a win.

“(Sets) three, four, five we definitely had more confidence,” BU head coach Lee Carter said after his team held Alberta to -.059, -.081 and -.080 percentages in the final three sets. “We made adjustments. They were running the ball inside and we were able to move the block inside and get a few more blocks on that and that just added to our confidence.”

Teagan Hunter had her eighth double-double of the season with 18 kills and 14 digs for the Bobcats, while right side Nicole Ban had 16 kills and hit .361 for the night.

“I think we just knew the first two sets weren’t how we played (Friday), weren’t how we know we can play,” Ban said. “We came together at the end of the second and we said ‘let’s play together.’ That was a lot of our problem and we came together and just played some of the best volleyball we have this year.”

Ban said having a quality victory over an elite opponent can only serve to be a confidence-builder going forward when the Bobcats play Calgary next weekend on the road and Regina to close out the season two weeks from now.

“I don’t think there was doubt. I think we knew we had a lot of work,” she said. “… I think it’s a good feeling to know that you have that in your back pocket and whenever we’re down we can look at each other and know we can come back.”

Left side Tiffany Proudfoot had 14 kills and 11 digs to lead U of A (12-6), which lost for the fourth time in the past five outings. Former Bobcat Jen Restall added 11 kills and 14 digs and right side Krista Zubick had 10 kills, although only one came after the second set.

STUFF: The Bobcats reached a couple of milestones: MB Erin Visch-Krahn recorded her 550th career kill, Hunter went over the 700 mark in career digs and S Becky Young notched her 2700th career assist.

» dlarkins@brandonsun.com