KAMLOOPS, B.C. - The No. 2 Calgary Dinos bounced back from a disastrous first set to come out on top of a battle of attrition in men's volleyball action Saturday night, taking an epic 3-2 victory (14-25, 25-18, 25-27, 25-21, 21-19) over the Thompson Rivers WolfPack at the Tournament Capital Centre.

BOX SCORE

The victory puts the Dinos at 5-1 on the season heading into a bye week, while TRU falls to 2-4.

“We had swings at the end there for match point, and that's all you can ask for,” said WolfPack head coach Pat Hennelly.  “It was good in terms of battling and challenging. We could have easily folded in the third set.  We came in after the second and our guys were chirping at each other, but we pulled it together.  It's a huge step forward for us.”

“It was entertaining for sure,” stated Dinos head coach Rod Durrant. “Both teams played a lot better than they did last night. We are very pleased to come out 21-19 in the fifth set. From our perspective, we are building to get better. We want to get back here in March (for the CIS championship), and tonight is a big win for this young group of guys."

After the WolfPack took the first set 25-14 and led 12-7 in the second, the Dinos came back to pull to within one. They then went on a run of four with the score tied at 17 and then scored the final four points to square the match. Three of those points came on kills by fifth year right side Omar Langford.  Langford wound up with 20 kills in 41 attempts. He had one service ace, five digs and five block assists.

Durrant felt Langford and fellow fifth year Oleg Podporin came through in the clutch. 

“Fifth year guys have to be your best  players and at the end of the day they were," he said. "They made some big plays in the fourth and fifth sets.  To be successful, they need to be our most valuable players."

Podporin had seven kills , two service aces, four digs and a solo block.

The fourth and fifth sets were both see -aw battles. Calgary forced the fifth and deciding showdown breaking a 20-20 tie to go up by two. They then scored the final three points of the set.

The fifth set saw TRU move quickly to a 4-2 lead and the 'Pack led 9-6 on a kill by fourth year middle Joel Caschetto.  The teams traded points from 12-12 all the way to 19 a piece.  After TRU took a time out at 20-19, Langford made a kill to end the match.

“Our big two guys played the way they should,” said Hennelly of Gord Perrin and Kevin Tillie.  “But when Gord struggled in the third set, other people picked it up. That is a massive step forward for this team.”

Tillie had the game of his young CIS career.  He had 29 kills, 11 digs, four service aces a block and three block assists. Perrin wound up with 22 kills in 55 attempts with two  serving aces and nine digs along with a solo block.

The Dinos had 13.5 team blocks compared to the WolfPack's 10.  David Egan had 11 kills, while setter Ciaran McGovern had 46 assists.

Calgary has a bye next weekend, while the WolfPack pays a visit to UBC to meet the Thunderbirds.

“We are looking forward to the bye," said Durrant. "We have two tough matches before Christmas against Trinity Western to prepare for. We'll enjoy the next two weeks.”

-UC-