EDMONTON - Fifth-year Kory White powered the U SPORTS #1 ranked Pandas over the Mount Royal Cougars in straight sets (25-21, 25-19, 25-18), at the Saville Community Sports Centre on Friday night.

Alberta (11-0) furthers their lead in the Canada West standings with the win, while the Cougs (8-3)  maintain their second position in the Central division.

White continued her great start to the season, pacing the game with 12 kills, on top of a .345 hitting percentage and 2.5 blocks. Coming into the game she ranked 5th in the Canada West in kills per set.

Setter Quinn Pelland was the one to watch on the Cougars side, with impressive game-highs of 26 assists and 17 digs.

The main story of the game can be boiled down to accuracy on attack. The Cougars had more kills and total attacks, however more than doubled Alberta's errors, 23 to 9.

The first set was punctuated with strong net play from both sides, with a combined 6.5 blocks, with Alberta all-time leader in blocks Vanessa Jarman recording 1.5. Alberta was more efficient on the attack, contributing to a 25-20 set victory. The Pandas hitting percentage was .229, as compared to MRU's .071. White had a strong set with four kills against zero errors.

Mount Royal's attack improved in the second set, with 14 kills besting the Pandas by three, however they were unable to rein in their mistakes as Alberta took the set 25-19. The Cougars continued to struggle with attack errors, as evidenced by a .075 hitting percentage. The Pandas kept improving on their efficiency, with a .273 hitting percentage. Jarman paced the Pandas effort with four kills, and the Cougs Nyadholi Thokbuom added four kills of her own. MRU's Pelland had 12 assists in the frame.

The third set was an all out attack from both sides. Thokboum had a set-high three kills for the Cougars as they improved their attack efficiency. Pelland added seven assists and three digs for a final line of 26 assists and 17 digs, both a game-high. 

However, the Pandas attack was too strong to overcome. They finished with nine kills on 16 attempts, good for a scalding hitting percentage of .375. White had five kills in the final set, building on her game-high 12 kills. Rookie Setter Justine Kolody, in just her third Canada West match, had seven assists in the frame.

The teams finish their weekend series tomorrow at 630 PM at Saville.