EDMONTON – The third-ranked University of Calgary Dinos showed impressive resiliency Saturday night, bouncing back from two one-set deficits to defeat the Alberta Pandas 3-2 (14-25, 25-17, 18-25, 25-20, 15-13) in Canada West women's volleyball action at the U of A Main Gym.
BOX SCORE
The Dinos (6-2) responded to a 3-0 series-opening loss Friday night to hand the No. 2 Pandas (9-1) their first loss of the 2008-09 season.
“This team showed tonight that it can win in a variety of different ways,” said Calgary head coach Jesse Knight following his first career victory over the Dinos' archrivals. “It showed at different times in the match. If we needed a big key block, we got it. Offensively we needed to find other ways to do things when they were serving tough, and we did that.”
After the first set opened tight with the teams trading points, Alberta opened a three-point gap at the second technical time out at 16-13 and came back with guns blazing, serving their way to a 25-14 win and a 1-0 lead in the match. The Pandas hit an otherworldly 56 per cent in the opening set, while the Dinos managed just 6.5 per cent.
The key to the match, however, was Calgary's response – in the second set, the Dinos jumped out to an 8-3 lead at the first break and never looked back, cruising to a 25-17 win to knot the affair. The statistical roles reversed as well, with Calgary hitting 25 per cent to the Pandas' four.
“It was tight at first but they started to push through with that tough serving again to go on a run,” said Knight. “The second set was similar, just the other way. The momentum swung in our favour.”
The court tilted back to the Pandas in the third set as the teams dug in for another long match in the storied rivalry between the two Alberta schools. Friday's 3-0 score was an anomaly in the all-time series, with the vast majority of recent matches going the full five-set distance. The Pandas led wire-to-wire in the third, taking a 25-18 win.
The Dinos rebounded once again in the fourth, this time in come-from-behind fashion. Trailing 16-15 at the second time out, Calgary took a 21-19 lead, eventually taking the set 25-20.
The fifth set went back and forth as the two teams jostled for position. Alberta held the advantage early, taking an 8-6 lead as they switched sides. The Pandas went up 10-8 before Calgary went on a mini 3-0 run to take an 11-10 lead. Kills by Holly Harper and Laura Wilson made it 13-11 Calgary, prompting a time out by Alberta coach Laurie Eisler.
Out of the break, perennial All-Canadian Jocelyn Blair pounded back-to-back kills – two of her six in the fifth set – to tie it up at 13-13. Another kill by Harper set up match point, and the Pandas had all kinds of trouble with Harper's spin serve on the subsequent rally, giving Calgary the 15-13 victory.
Harper and Wilson led the Dinos offence all night, notching 13 and 10 kills respectively. Lauren Perry added eight kills to go with a match-high 13 digs. Kathryn Moncks came off the bench in relief of Sarah Lacny at setter midway through the match, finishing with 31 assists.
Blair led all players with 15 kills on the evening, while Calgary products Kelci French and Tiffany Proudfoot posted 13 and 12, respectively.
The Dinos held the edge in overall serving stats with eight aces against 10 errors, while Alberta committed 13 service errors to go with just two aces. Alberta took the defensive battle at the net with 14 total blocks to Calgary's 10, although the edge went to the Dinos in the final two sets, out-blocking the Pandas 5-3.
Both teams end the first half of the season on the road next weekend. The Pandas head to Winnipeg to take on the Manitoba Bisons, who Calgary swept at home last weekend, while the Dinos also head east to Regina, where they will face the Cougars.
Calgary's next home action goes Jan. 10-11, 2009 when the UBC Thunderbirds pay a visit to the Jack Simpson Gym.
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