CALGARY – After getting blown out in the second and trailing big in the third, the No. 3 Calgary Dinos looked to be down and out Saturday night, but a big comeback sparked them to a 3-1 home-court win over the No. 6 Winnipeg Wesmen (25-22, 14-25, 28-26, 25-14).
BOX SCORE
After winning a tight first set 25-22, the Dinos could do no right in the second while the Wesmen could do no wrong. After Calgary kept it relatively close until the second technical time out at 16-12, Winnipeg began to pull away, posting an 11-2 run to end the second set. The Dinos committed 12 attack errors in the second for a negative hitting percentage, while the Wesmen hit an impressive 39 per cent.
Things began to unravel further for the Dinos as the third began and Winnipeg again jumped out to a big lead, this time going up by as many as eight points at 18-10. Calgary coach Rod Durrant called time out to settle his troops, and the comeback was ignited. Slowly the hosts began to pare down Winnipeg's lead and, with middle Oleg Podporin back serving, completed a 10-2 run to tie it at 20-20. The Calgary block got stronger as the night wore on, and a tandem effort by Podporin and Omar Langford sealed the third set 28-26 in Calgary's favour.
“Into the time out, guys were calm and saying 'we can get through this,'” said Calgary fourth-year power hitter Andrew Tallas, who led all players with 18 kills on the night. “We focused on our first contacts, and that allowed us just to fight. It's one thing that we've done very well this season, we won't give up on any game. It's been a while since we've had a lapse like that, but it was awesome to come out of it on top.”
The Dinos led wire-to-wire in the fourth, leading 8-5 and 16-12 at the breaks before embarking on another big run aided by an error-prone Wesmen team that had the wind knocked out of its sails for the second straight night. Calgary finished the fourth set on a 9-2 run to take it 25-14, sweeping Winnipeg after a similar 3-1 win Friday night.
The win inches the Dinos ever closer to a coveted home playoff berth, a reality that wasn't lost on Tallas, the Dinos' captain.
“This puts us in a really good position for a home playoff game, which would be huge for us with the support we have at home,” he said.
With just four matches to play on the season, the Dinos will hold second place in Canada West by at least four points heading into next weekend's key series at Brandon. Calgary closes the year at home to Thompson Rivers.
Andrew Town was the top offensive weapon for the Wesmen, but his 15-kill night was tempered by 14 big attack errors, leaving his efficiency at just two per cent. Paul Kjos added nine kills and Alan Ahow eight for Winnipeg, which falls to 7-5 on the year.
Tallas' 18 was the high-water mark for the Dinos, who move to 11-3 on the year, while Langford added 13 and Podporin six. Pierre Rocque was a key component of the third set comeback, posting four kills in just over a set and a half on the floor while adding four big digs to go with them.
The road for the Wesmen gets no easier next week as they face the Alberta Golden Bears in a two-game series in Edmonton, while the Dinos head to Manitoba to take on the Brandon Bobcats.
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