CALGARY - For the second straight season the Dinos volleyball teams face the Regina Cougars immediately following tough series against archrival Alberta – but this time they close a semester on the road, rather than opening a semester at home.
For the Dinos women, the Regina Cougars always present a tough match-up, more often than not going to the maximum five sets. While the five-set match is nothing new to the Dinos – four of their eight conference matches this year have gone the distance – first year head coach Jesse Knight continues to push his team to find the killer instinct.
Calgary enters the weekend off a series split with Alberta last weekend in Edmonton, where they handed the second-ranked Pandas their first loss of the season Saturday night in, you guessed it, five sets. The Dinos maintained their No. 3 national ranking this week thanks to the split and sit tied for fourth in the conference standings at 6-2, with two matches in hand over each of the teams ahead of them.
Of course, matches in hand are only good if you win them, and Calgary will look to continue a string of success against the Cougars that stretches back to February 2000. The Dinos have not lost to Regina in conference play in nearly nine years, and this season they reversed a trend by defeating the Cougars in pre-season play, capturing the University of Regina invitational tournament back in October. The final score? 3-2, of course.
Five of the last eight conference matches between the two teams have gone the full five sets, with Calgary winning every one of them.
The Dinos are well-represented in the conference statistics, befitting a 6-2 team ranked third in the nation. The duo of Lauras – Littlejohn and Spence – sits five and six in hitting percentage, while Holly Harper is second in kills with 3.56 per set. Sophomore setter Sarah Lacny is second in assists, averaging 10.45 per set.
Calgary sits ahead of Regina in all but one team statistical category – service aces.
The Cougars, long on the outside looking in with the top teams in Canada West, return home this weekend after a six-game road trip that took them to Winnipeg, Vancouver, and Brandon. They're back in Regina licking their wounds after a 2-4 record on the road, including four straight losses – two to UBC and two to Brandon. At 4-6 on the season, the Cougars are in desperate need of victories this weekend to avoid going four games below .500 heading into the break.
Fifth year senior Tammy Jule is Regina's top gun with 117 kills on the season, while fourth year middle Beth Clark has notched 98 on the campaign. Following last weekend's sweep at the hands of Brandon, the Cougars swapped places with the Bobcats in the CIS Top 10, dropping into a ninth-place tie with McGill after sitting at No. 7 last week.
The fourth-ranked Dinos men, meanwhile, head to Regina looking to regain momentum heading into the break. Calgary fell in straight sets both nights at the hands of the defending national champion Alberta Golden Bears last weekend in Edmonton, but the Dinos served notice that they are a team on the rise, playing the Bears tough, especially in the series opener.
Omar Langford was spectacular on the weekend, pounding 25 kills in the two matches after coming off the bench on Friday night. Saturday he went 18-for-35 with two errors (45.7 per cent) and wowed the Edmonton crowd with his high-flying heroics. The resurgence of the returning Canada West all-star gives the Dinos a key one-two punch on the right side along with Allen Meek, the team's kill leader with 77 on the year.
Middles David Egan and Graham Vigrass continue to lead the Dinos in hitting percentage, sitting third and sixth in the conference, respectively, while Egan and Oleg Podporin also crack the Canada West top 10 in blocking.
The Regina Cougars men have struggled throughout their history and are off to another poor start in 2008-09, sitting 0-8 on the season with just six set victories to their credit.
Fourth year outside hitter Mathew Brooks leads Regina with 92 kills on the year, with production dropping off rapidly from there. Outside hitters Kevin Frey and Chris Knoop have produced 74 and 72 kills respectively for the Cougars, who also return from a six-match road swing. Regina has not won a set since Nov. 14, when they fell 3-1 to the UBC Thunderbirds in Vancouver.
The Cougars, however, have played better than their record would indicate. They pushed both Trinity Western and Winnipeg to the maximum five sets – with the Winnipeg match on the road – and four of the six sets they lost last weekend to a very good Brandon team were by either two or three points. The Dinos did sweep the Cougars in their two meetings last year in Calgary, and they will need to be on their game for a repeat performance in the Saskatchewan capital this weekend.
The weekend is the end of the road in 2008 for the Dinos volleyball teams as they take a break for exams and the Christmas season. The women are heading to Tampa, Fla. after Christmas for a non-conference tournament with several other Canadian teams, and both the men and women return to conference action at home when they host the UBC Thunderbirds Jan. 10-11 in the Jack Simpson Gym.
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