CALGARY - The Alberta Pandas took a hard earned victory Sunday to move on to the Canada West finals.

Game three of the Canada West semifinals between the second seed Mount Royal Cougars and the third seed Alberta Pandas took place Sunday afternoon with a loud crowd in attendance. The Pandas took game one of the series Friday three sets to one and the Cougars fought back taking game two Saturday by the same score.

The Pandas would start out on top in this one taking an 11-6 lead. The Cougars took a while to get settled in but after a timeout got two big clocks and an ace to close the gap. The Pandas were playing aggressively though, middle blocker Vanessa Jarman had a few big swings helping her squad keep a three point lead at the technical timeout. Alberta would take the first set 25-18.

Both teams came out of the first break with a fire lit under them. The Cougars would jump in front this time earning a 9-5 lead thanks in part to conference first team all star Nyadholi Thokbuom who had 2 big kills and an ace in the first ten points. The Pandas would grind their way back taking a one point lead at the technical timeout. The two squads would battle back and forth with Alberta taking a 20-18 lead. The home team wasn't ready to give in and fought through bringing the game within one at 23-22. On the next play Anna Carlson stuff blocked the Pandas' kill attempt to te things up. It was back and forth from there as each team had a chance to win the set. Alberta's White would finish it off with her tenth kill of the match. Two to one Pandas.

Alberta maintained their momentum into the third set taking a 7-2 lead. Alberta did a good job of holding the five point lead to the technical timeout. After the break the Cougars went on a short run but it was stifled by a calm confident Alberta side. The outside hitter tandem of Julia Zonneveld and Kory White were teeing off in this one. Mount Royal would bring it within one point at 20-19 as they fought for their chance at Canada West gold. Tied at 22-22 Anna Carlson would get a clutch ace bringing the crowd to their feet. The Cougars would end up with four straight points to take the set 25-22.

The start of fourth set was a lot closer until the Pandas broke free to take a three point lead at 9-6 forcing a timeout for the Cougars. They would come out of it strong tying the score at nine. Alberta wasn't having any of it though going on a run of their own thanks to the strong serving of setter Elyse Hart. With a 16-10 lead at the technical the Pandas would look to shut down another Cougars comeback bringing the lead to seven at 20-13. They would end up taking the set 25-15 and winning the match three sets to one.

Cougars Head Coach Sandra Lamb says, "We just didn't execute well enough. We need our outsides to be better, if we want to compete with the best teams we need to be better. We have to go do some work and we have one more weekend to redeem ourselves."

Pandas' Head Coach Laurie Eisler said this of her team's ability to stay calm in a heated match, "We knew we had to control what we could control and just stay steady. We're a patient team, we are willing to play two or three hours or whatever it takes to win. We knew they would fight back, they gave us a bit of a different look and I thought we adjusted well."

With the two matches to one series victory the Alberta Pandas will head to Langley to take on the Trinity Western Spartans in the Canada West finals while the Cougars will host the Thompson Rivers University Wolfpack in the bronze medal match. The winner of that game will clinch the last spot in the U SPORTS National Championship tournament hosted by the Calgary Dinos.