They traded jerseys and then swings for 2 hours and 4 minutes.

But on the night that the Olympic flame was lit in Canada, it was the Canadians who lit up the Stan Sheriff Center. That even included one who wore a Hawaii uniform.

UH sophomore hitter Steven Hunt, a Toronto native, put down 11 kills, but it wasn't enough to carry his team against his countrymen.

Led by Spencer Leiske's 12 kills and a block that frustrated the UH attackers, Alberta pulled out a 35-33, 30-26, 30-23 exhibition volleyball victory in front of 1,535. Simon Lidster and Justin Merta combined for 14 kills with no errors on 24 swings for the two-time defending Canadian collegiate champions.

The teams meet again at 7 tonight and “;we hope we'll be a little sharper,”; Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said.

Both teams played well in the 45 minutes to took Set 1 to be played. There were 24 ties and seven lead changes. Each team had three attempts at ending it, with Alberta taking two at 29-28 and 30-29 and Hawaii answering when trying to end it at 31-30, 32-31 and 33-32.

The Warriors blinked first as the Golden Bears scored three straight, on Simon Lidster's fourth kill, a stuff of Hunt and Matt Rawson hitting long on an overpass.

It was another seesaw battle in Set 2. Alberta looked on the verge of running away when scoring four straight to take a 17-15 lead. Hawaii answered with a 4-0 run of its own—with Jonas Umlauft putting down a kill and coming up with a block—for a 19-17 margin.

The Golden Bears tied it again at 19, the first of six consecutive ties. Alberta finally gained separation at 26-24 on a UH service error and a ball-handling error called on Joseph Strotman.

The Warriors never got closer than 27-26 as Alberta strung together three points, finishing it off on a kill and an ace from Leiske, and Jason DeRocco's fourth kills.

Hawaii had five more kills in Set 2 than Alberta but also eight more hitting errors, accounting for the three-point differential.

As Wade promised, he would use the exhibition to give his second team a chance to gain some playing experience. Only one of the original starters remained in Set 3—Rawson at middle—with sophomore Sam Morehouse setting and sophomore libero Joshua Laurel seeing the court for the first time this season.

Hawaii got behind early, seeing a 3-3 tie turn into a 7-3 deficit. The gap grew to seven (15-8) before the Warriors put together a rally that pulled them to within 19-15 on Strotman's solo block of Leiske.

Alberta, whose season started last October, wasn't rattled. Two kills by DeRocco sparked a 7-2 run that gave the Golden Bears their largest lead at 26-17.

Hawaii wasn't ready to take down the nets. Strotman added two kills and two Alberta errors brought the Warriors to 26-21. But the Golden Bears only needed to side out the rest of the way, finishing the sweep on Leiske's 12th kill.

The final point also provided some levity as Morehouse chased down the final pass, running into the scorer's table. He got up, waving to the crowd, saying, “;I'm fine.”;

The contest was a reunion of Hunt and former clubmate Erik Mattson, the Alberta libero who finished with 11 digs.

“;It was really good to see him,”; Mattson said. “;I've missed him and it brought back some good memories.

“;I thought the crowd was really good. It was probably more than we get for most of our matches.”;

Note

Next Friday's match with Hope International will include what is being billed “;Volleykapila.”; It will be a free postmatch concert featuring UH students.