CALGARY – The third-ranked Calgary Dinos needed overtime in the second set to pull even in the match, then pulled away to defeat the No. 6 Winnipeg Wesmen 3-1 Friday night in the Jack Simpson Gym (22-25, 35-33, 25-21, 25-16).
BOX SCORE
After an opening set that saw Winnipeg come back from a five-point deficit to win 25-22, the turning point of the match came late in the second set as both teams struggled to earn the minimum two-point victory. A Winnipeg win would have put the visitors up 2-0 and in control, while the Dinos scratched and clawed to stay alive and knot the affair at one set apiece.
Each team had five set-point opportunities to claim the marathon frame, but in the end a kill by Andrew Tallas set up Oleg Podporin's service ace that caught the tape and rolled in seeming slow motion onto the Wesmen court, giving the Dinos a 35-33 victory and new life in the match. Calgary rarely trailed in the final two sets, taking them 25-21 and 25-16.
“We came out really strong, and all of a sudden they got some big blocks and we got tentative,” said Calgary coach Rod Durrant of his team's first-set performance. “The second set we started passing more consistently and playing better as a team. Those 35-33 wins are big character wins for our team, and we were happy to get that for sure. That momentum definitely carried over in the third and fourth for us.”
Durrant made a key substitution in the third set, replacing Omar Langford – who was leading the match at the time with 17 kills – with Allen Meek on the right side. Meek played the remainder of the third and the entire fourth set, posting seven kills and a 60 per cent attack efficiency as Calgary cruised to a 25-16 win in the final set.
”Omar was playing well, but we were happy for Allen to come in in the third set,” said Durrant. “His strength is that he brings energy to the floor. He has fun and keeps guys loose, and we were really pleased with his performance tonight.”
Andrew Town led all players with 20 kills on the night for Winnipeg, while Justin Duff was virtually unstoppable from the middle for Winnipeg. Duff put down 13 kills on 18 opportunities with just a single error, but he was called for three block errors on the night, overshadowing his two-block performance. Paul Kjos and Alan Ahow added 11 and 10 kills, respectively, for Winnipeg.
Langford's 17 kills led the way for the Dinos despite his leaving during the third set, while left sides Tallas (16) and Chris Hoag (11) were the other offensive catalysts for Calgary, and Durrant was pleased with his power hitters' play.
“Chris played very well and was solid in the serve receive, and Andrew was solid later in the match as well,” he said. “We need them to be consistent for us down the stretch.”
Middles Graham Vigrass and Oleg Podporin added nine and seven kills, respectively, for Calgary, while Tallas was the match's digs leader with 10.
The win moves Calgary to 10-3 on the season, while Winnipeg falls to 7-4. Durrant knows what a dangerous team the Wesmen are, having been to the last two national finals, and knows his team needs to be ready from the first whistle in the rubber match Saturday.
“They're a great team,” he said. “We saw that tonight, the second set could have gone either way and it was a battle in every set. We're going to have to come out with urgency tomorrow from zero to 25, and if we play as a group from the start it gives you a better opportunity to sustain that urgency.”
The Dinos and Wesmen conclude their weekend series Saturday night, with first serve at 7 p.m.
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