EDMONTON — The Winnipeg Wesmen will try to rally with their season on the line Friday night. 

The Alberta Golden Bears recorded seven aces and hit over .300 in handing the Wesmen men's volleyball team a 3-0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-20) defeat in the opening match of a best-of-three Canada West quarter-final series at the Saville Centre. 

Winnipeg, which finished as the No. 6 seed in the conference tournament, will now need to win Friday (9 p.m. CT) to force a decisive third match in the series. 

The Wesmen got a quick start with a five-point run in the first set that gave them a 9-5 lead. Alberta chipped away and eventually pulled ahead 17-16 on back-to-back kills from Jacob Sargent. After the Bears upped their lead to 20-17, the teams played side-out volleyball the rest of the way and the Bears secured the set. 

In Set 2, the Bears put up two key runs — five straight points to break a 9-9 tie and four in a row to push their advantage to 19-12. And, in the third set, a four-point run at 21-19 sealed Winnipeg's fate. 

Luke Lodewyks had 10 kills for the Wesmen, who hit .215 for the night. Carson Brennan had a match-high eight digs. 

The Bears were led by Sargent and Dylan Martens, who both had 11 kills. Alberta hit .367 for the match.