CALGARY - Coming off of their bye weekends, the Calgary Dinos volleyball teams will be looking to make respective statements against two Manitoba Bisons teams sporting different levels of success. Both the women's and men's volleyball teams play in afternoon games on Saturday and Sunday.
The Dinos women's volleyball team invites a strong 5-1 Bisons squad into the Jack for a weekend set which will be a good indication of whether both teams are poised to make a strong push through the rest of the season. The Dinos, who are currently ranked third in the country just in front of the fifth-ranked Bisons, will be looking to overtake their Manitoba rivals in the conference standings.
Sitting at 3-1 on the season thus far, the Dinos have found early success under the leadership of head coach Jesse Knight. Sarah Lacny has been very solid for the Dinos thus far with 10.62 assists per game, good for second in the conference. Many of those assists have found the hand of outside hitter Holly Harper, who is second in Canada West with 3.62 kills per game. Opposite Harper on the left side is Lauren Perry, who has been sensational both on offense and defense with 2.46 kills per game to go along with three solid digs per game.
Calgary will have their hands absolutely full with dynamic Bisons left side hitter Sarah Morrissette. Morrissette, who is first in Canada West by nearly a full kill per game with 4.5, has proven her worth as an all around force for Manitoba. Having posted 3.65 digs per game, nine total service aces, and a league leading 5.15 points per game, Morrissette is quickly becoming one of the more feared players in the league.
Nonetheless, the Dinos have been able to use a variety of weapons during exhibition play and in the regular season, and will lean heavily on a strong collective effort from their team.
The Bisons will look to rebound from their only loss of the season, a stunner to a much-improved Brandon Bobcats team last weekend.
Both teams face off at noon on Saturday and Sunday in the Jack Simpson Gym for the early afternoon matinees.
Coming off of their bye weekend too is the Dinos men's team, who will similarly welcome the Manitoba Bisons to the Jack Simpson Gym this weekend. Much like their fellow women's team, they have been led by an all-around team attack, and have started the season strong at 3-1.
For Manitoba, the story lines between the women and men have been substantially different. Unlike the women, who have had only one loss, the men's team marked their first victory of the season this past weekend against the Brandon Bobcats, which was a fairly major upset as the sixth-ranked Bobcats fell in a four set match. At 1-3, Manitoba has struggled so far, but has renewed confidence with their inaugural victory.
The Bisons are led by their rookie outside hitter Chris Voth, who has contributed 3.56 kills per game and has served as the main Bisons weapon thus far this season. Setter Drew Venables has been equally solid for the Bisons, contributing with 8.75 assists to go along with five service aces.
For Calgary, former team rookie of the year David Egan has had a strong start, finding himself second in the conference in hitting percentage at 0.533, as well as posting 1.17 blocks per game.
Aside from Egan, the Dinos have received solid contributions from a variety of their players thus far this season, as evidenced by the collective Calgary absence at the top of many of the statistical categories in Canada West.
Second year setter Ciaran McGovern has put up 9.67 assists per game in the first four games, and has been settling in as a team leader for the Dinos. Graham Vigrass, Andrew Tallas and Chris Hoag have been among many Dinos contributing to a solid team effort which has led to a no. 4 ranking in the CIS.
The Dinos will look to continue to solidify their statement to the conference that they are a team to be reckoned with, while the Bisons will be looking to build on their upset of Brandon as they move forward.
Calgary and Manitoba square off following the women's games in the Jack Simpson Gym. Game times are at 2 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.
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