CALGARY – The University of Calgary Dinos men's volleyball squad avenged a round robin loss against UCLA, taking a straight-sets (25-21, 25-19, 25-19) victory over the Bruins to capture the Husky Dino Cup title for the eighth time in the tournament's 23-year history.

BOX SCORE

After falling 3-1 to the Bruins Friday night in the round robin with the fourth set going 36-34 to UCLA, the Dinos came out gunning in Saturday's championship game, serving aggressively and putting up a wall at the net for 9.5 blocks on the night.

“We studied the film from last night and put together a game plan with input from the players, and they all bought in and executed it,” said Calgary coach Rod Durrant, who led the Dinos to their last Husky Dino Cup title in 2006, his first year at the helm of the program. “Our serving put pressure on their serve receive, and our blocking and defence was the best it has been all weekend.

“This was a good way for this group to end the pre-season against a very good UCLA team, and now we need to continue to grow and move forward as we start the regular season next weekend at Alberta.”

The Bruins led the way through most of the opening set, holding as much as a five-point lead at 10-5 early. But the Dinos began to chip away, and a Bruin attack error knotted it up at 18-18. With the Bruins again leading 20-19, the Dinos embarked on a 6-1 run to end the set, punctuating it with a block from the tandem of Chris Hoag and Oleg Podporin.

The second set followed a similar pattern, with UCLA leading early and the Dinos fighting back, and the Dinos took both the second and third sets by identical 25-19 scores.

Hoag and Podporin had spectacular nights on the stats sheer, with both pounding eight kills on 11 tries and just one error between them, combining for seven of the team's 9.5 blocks on the night. The Dinos limited their errors to just 13 on the night and held UCLA to only 30 kills while scoring 40 of their own, posting a team hitting percentage of an astounding 63.6 per cent in the final set.

Brett Perrine and Wes Dunlap paced the Bruins, who won the 2008 Husky Dino Cup title, with eight kills apiece.

Earlier Saturday, the Trinity Western Spartans swept aside the Pacific Tigers in straight sets to take the bronze medal (25-18, 25-21, 25-14). Marc Howatson was unstoppable for the Spartans, recording 14 kills on 18 attempts, while Steven Marshall and Rudy Verhoeff added eight each.

Verhoeff was named to the All-Tournament team, where he was joined by Pacific's Chaz Hindsley, Perrine and Tom Hastings of UCLA, along with Podporin and Graham Vigrass of the champion Dinos. Fourth-year middle David Egan was named the tournament's most valuable player.

“David had a very good tournament, and he has gained so much confidence after playing at the Canada Games this summer,” said Durrant. “He did his job very well, the guys all respect him, and he makes a great leader for this group.”

In the lone women's action of the day, the Dinos had little trouble with the Brandon Bobcats, needing just 67 minutes to record a 3-0 (25-9, 25-20, 25-17) victory.

BOX SCORE

Led by rookie Maura Hayes' 10 kills in the match, the Dinos jumped out to an early lead and rode two long serving runs by Raynell Lavertu and Lindsey Doland to hold the Bobcats to single digits in the first set. The second-set victory came in come-from-behind fashion, while Calgary led wire-to-wire in the third.

Doland had a fantastic weekend on the right side, where she takes over from the graduated Holly Harper, the 2008-09 Canada West player of the year. She posted 12 kills in the Dinos' loss to UBC Thursday and added 16 Friday against Brandon before a four-kill effort to end the weekend against the Bobcats Saturday afternoon.

“I was impressed with how we served them off the court today, and Maura had a great night,” said second-year head coach Jesse Knight. “She was hitting spots all over the floor. The other thing I'm so happy with is Lindsey Doland's play. She showed consistency both scoring and blocking, and that's going to be a key for us this year.”

Both Dinos teams open the regular season next week when they head up the QEII to face the Alberta Golden Bears and Pandas at the Main Gym in Edmonton. The Dinos women open at home Oct. 30-31 against Simon Fraser, while the men play their home opener Nov. 6-7 when the Manitoba Bisons roll in.

2009 HUSKY DINO CUP

TOURNAMENT RESULTS
Thursday, October 15
6 p.m. Women: UBC 3 Calgary 0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-15)
8 p.m. Men: Calgary 3 Trinity Western 1 (20-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-18)

Friday, October 16
11 a.m. Men: Trinity Western 3 UCLA 0 (25-20, 28-26, 25-18)
1 p.m. Men: Calgary 3 Pacific 0 (25-12, 25-12, 25-11)
3 p.m. Women: Calgary 3 Brandon 0 (27-25, 25-16, 27-25)
5:30 p.m. Men: Trinity Western 3 Pacific 2 (25-20, 23-25, 25-21, 21-25, 15-12)
7 p.m. Men: UCLA 3 Calgary 1 (21-25, 25-19, 25-19, 36-34)

Saturday, October 17
11 am Men: UCLA 3 Pacific 0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-17)
3 p.m. Men: Bronze – Trinity Western 3 Pacific 0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-14)
5 p.m. Women: Calgary 3 Brandon 0 (25-9, 25-20, 25-17)
7 p.m. Men: Gold – Calgary 3 UCLA 0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-19)

FINAL STANDINGS
1. Calgary (3-1)
2. UCLA (2-2)
3. Trinity Western (3-1)
4. Pacific (0-4)

TOURNAMENT ALL-STARS
David Egan (Calgary) – MVP
Oleg Podporin (Calgary)
Graham Vigrass (Calgary)
Tom Hastings (UCLA)
Brett Perrine (UCLA)
Rudy Verhoeff (Trinity Western)
Chaz Hindsley (Pacific)

-UC-