CALGARY – In a marathon match that had big implications for both teams, it was the Trinity Western Spartans who came out victorious with a gritty come from behind effort, winning 3-2 (21-25, 25-16, 23-25, 25-20, 15-12) over the University of Calgary Dinos.
Led by Kara Jansen Van Doorn's 16 kills and 12 digs, the Spartans improve to 4-5 on the season with the victory, while Raynell Lavertus' game-high 17 kills were not enough for the Dinos, who fall to a similar 4-5.
Aside from a convincing second set victory for Trinity Western, in which Janssen Van Doorn had seven kills alone for the Spartans, who hit on 41% of their attacks, the tale of the match was errors for both clubs. With the Dinos and Spartans connecting on attack percentages of 0.118 and 0.141 respectively over the match, neither were able to garner enough momentum at key moments. Calgary also committed 12 service errors, with five of those committed by Lavertu.
Up two to one in the fourth set, the Dinos struggled to put the Spartans away, hitting on a paltry seven percent of their kills. Dropping the set 25-20 after the tough third set victory, the Dinos would be forced to take a second chance at winning in front of their home crowd.
Heading into the fifth and final set, both teams were given the chance to make amends for their sloppy play with the slate wiped clean. While Trinity Western jumped out to the quick lead, the Dinos took advantage of a few mistakes and made pulled even at 12-12. However it was simply not to be for Calgary, as Trinity Western took the lead back with big kill and took it from there.
Aside from Lavertu, the Dinos got 20 digs from Kelly Frittenburg and a strong performance in the middle from fifth year middle hitter Laura Spence, who had 10 kills and three blocks. Rookie Maura Hayes also had 11 kills and 12 digs.
Trinity Western got solid performances from Carmen Dyck and Kim Klassen in support of Jansen Van Doorn, notching 12 and 9 kills respectively. Klassen had 14 digs to round out her stats, while Lauren O'Reilly had 44 assists from the setter position.
Head Coach Jesse Knight knows the Dinos dropped one that they should have been able to take advantage of.
“I think we played pretty well,” said the second-year coach. “We executed our game-plan, and were efficient. But I think the difference in the game was definitely errors – we allowed them to gain momentum with mistakes, which we can't do.
“As far as tomorrow goes, I don't think we need to alter our plan,” continued Knight. “It'll come down, once again, to who can play the cleanest volleyball, and who can commit the least errors.”
The Dinos and Spartans will go at it again on Saturday evening to finish out the fall semester, with the game starting at 6 PM in the Jack Simpson Gymnasium in Calgary.
