Pandas New Year’s Classic previews second half of season

The University of Alberta Pandas volleyball team has been good lately. Great even.

They’ve weathered a three-game losing streak with a nine-game heater. And it’s difficult to say they’re not a team worth watching.

“We really tried not overreacting to a slow start,” Pandas head coach Carolyn O’Dwyer said.

“Obviously, that’s not what we wanted. But I think of how we keep getting better and building as a team.”

She’s not wrong. The Pandas went from giving up a sweep their first game of the season, to taking one against the Laval Rouge on January 2 at the New Year’s Classic, in a demonstration of absolute confidence.

“I’m a lot more confident in myself than I was at the beginning of the season. That comes with Justine setting me a lot. It shows that she trusts me, and I become more confident in my hitting,” Allie Moore, who attempted and made five kills, said.

How did the Pandas adjust to a team outside of their conference?

Hitting aside, the Pandas played a smart, high intense game, led by Justine Kolody. Kolody took 11 of the team’s 12 assists, knowing they needed to adjust to a different style of play.

Laval Rouge is “a little bit slower. And a little bit different in terms of size as well. So with that, we know that they’re gonna have different shot tendencies,” Kolody said.

“We knew their opposite had some good, sharp cross shots. So our block did a good job of coming inside and then getting their hands over the head fast, and then our defence adjusted as well in case it did get past the block.”

When the Pandas gave up a rare point, they played a smart game to self-correct, which easily made them the most intimidating team at the Classic. It was a pretty fluid transition as they incorporate that intense energy “in the training environment.”

“If that’s something they’re doing every day, it’s a lot easier to mimic it in a game,” O’Dwyer said. “We want to be an opponent that’s just so hard to play against. And I hope that’s something that we’re doing. If a team wants to beat us, they have to do it, and they’re gonna have to earn it.”

The sweep looked promising, but what about the next few games?

Despite O’Dwyer’s “leave it all on the court” resolve, another team might.

The Pandas face a tough stretch of games against some conference leaders, risking their top three seeded position in Canada West.

“I’m looking at it as a big positive” O’Dwyers said. “Leading into, hopefully, what is a long play-off push, we have some really good competition and some really strong teams to play against.”

Those games will hopefully prepare the Pandas for the Canada West playoffs. The playoffs are arguably the most important series of the year, based on conference and exhibition play. A fact that was obvious during the Pandas game, and apparent all day, is that Canada West dominates U Sports volleyball. And it has for some time.

A rare loss in 2018 took a gold medal away from the Pandas in a four set, 14 point game. And no non-conference team has been able to say that in the past five years.

This would probably make the U Sports playoffs easy, right? Wrong.

“We always end up playing against a Canada West team,” O’Dwyer said. But the New Year’s Classic provides a look at early U Sport playoff results.