CALGARY – The fifth-ranked Calgary Dinos put an exclamation point on their breakout season Saturday night, serving notice to the rest of the conference that they will be a force to be reckoned with in the post-season after dispatching the No. 6 Thompson Rivers WolfPack 3-0 for the second consecutive night (25-22, 25-14, 25-23).
BOX SCORE
In their final game of the regular season, the Dinos solidified their grasp on second place in Canada West at 13-5 and will enjoy a bye next week as they watch the logjam in the standings below them sort itself out. Whichever team sits in seventh place when the dust clears next weekend will pay a visit to the Jack Simpson Gym for a best-of-three Canada West Quarterfinal series Feb. 13-15, the first home post-season date for the Dinos since 2002.
“We have a fantastic group of guys that worked very hard and were rewarded for a very good season,” said Calgary coach Rod Durrant, who inherited a four-win team in 2006 and turned it into a 13-win team in just three short years. “To go 13-5 in Canada West is an accomplishment. We're going to enjoy this tonight, give them a couple of days off, then get ready for the playoffs in 10 days, because that's what it's all about.”
The winner of the quarterfinal series will get a berth to the conference Final Four and, more importantly, a coveted spot at the CIS championship – both of which will be held in Edmonton in late February.
“It would be a real big step for this program to get back there (the CIS championship) to see where we measure up on the stage where we all want to be at,” Durrant said. “We want to get back there, and that playoff series is going to be a big week for us. Whoever we get is going to be a tough opponent, so we're happy to be on our home court and we're going to do our best to get to nationals.”
For the second straight night the Dinos dominated in all aspects of the game, earning their first-ever series sweep over Thompson Rivers – one of their potential opponents in the playoffs. Calgary improved its record to 5-0 against the WolfPack in conference and non-conference play this year and finishes the regular season with a perfect 10-0 record at home.
After opening up a slight lead early in the first set, Calgary fell behind the WolfPack 16-15 at the second technical time out. The Dinos re-took the lead at 18-17, and an ace by Andrew Tallas forced TRU into a time out at 20-17. Calgary kills leader Omar Langford put down his fourth of the night to seal the opening-set win 25-22.
It was all Dinos in the second set as they cruised to a 25-14 win, and though the third set was much closer on the scoreboard, Calgary never trailed en route to the 25-23 win.
Langford led the way once again for the Dinos, posting 19 kills on the night for an impressive 47 per cent efficiency. Middle Oleg Podporin had another good night offensively with eight kills and was a monster on defence with six block assists as Calgary out-blocked TRU by a 7-5 margin. Tallas added six kills, while sophomore middle Graham Vigrass went a perfect 5-for-5 in the kills department.
TRU (10-8) was led by Robin Schoebel's 11-kill night, while Josh Boruck put down six and Stefan Savoie four. The WolfPack played without the services of junior national teamer Gord Perrin, who dressed but saw limited action in Friday night's series opener.
While the Dinos will watch the scoreboard next weekend to see who they will host in the playoffs, the WolfPack's fate is out of its control. TRU still holds a slim chance of finishing in the top four and hosting a playoff series, but they could also finish as low as seventh, which would set up a playoff appearance in the Jack. Winnipeg, UBC, Brandon, Thompson Rivers, and Trinity Western will sort out the positioning of the final five playoff seeds next weekend when Winnipeg plays Manitoba, Brandon visits UBC, and Trinity Western hosts Saskatchewan.
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