CALGARY - Believe it or not, it has been a very long time since the Jack Simpson Gym hosted playoff series for both the Dinos men's and women's volleyball teams on the same weekend.
In fact, you have to go all the way back to 1994 to find the last time – that year, both teams won the conference championships at home and the Dinos women went all the way to win the national title as well.
That 1994 conference title is still the last one won by the Dinos men's program, but Calgary is starting to make noise and, after a breakout season, the Dinos are eager to re-assert themselves on the national stage.
Standing between the Dinos and a guaranteed berth to the CIS Championship late this month in Edmonton are the Winnipeg Wesmen, and the battle will be a classic struggle between youth and experience. The Dinos have not been to a national championship since 2003 and, indeed, are hosting their first home playoff series since 2002. Winnipeg, conversely, has been to the last two national finals, defeating Alberta in 2007 before falling to the Golden Bears last year.
The No. 9 Wesmen are not the team they once were after losing BLG Award winner Ben Schellenberg and all-star setter Dustin Addison-Schneider, but head coach Larry McKay will bring a veteran lineup into the Jack this weekend. The Wesmen come in as the seventh seed in Canada West, but in a season of unparalleled parity they still finished the season 10-8 – the Dinos finished in sixth spot last season at 8-10 – and jammed in a four-way tie for fourth place with that record. By virtue of their inferior sets won-lost record, however, the Wesmen make their way to Calgary this weekend to face the second seed, No. 3 Calgary Dinos.
Justin Duff and Andrew Town are Winnipeg's two top guns on offence, with Duff finishing the season sixth in hitting percentage while Town averaged 4.25 kills per set, just behind Calgary's Omar Langford. Fifth-year hitters Alan Ahow and Paul Kjos are staring at the end of their CIS careers, and both will be additionally motivated to extend their playing time two more weeks.
The Dinos' return to prominence has been one of the biggest stories of the year in Canada West. Just three years into his tenure, Rod Durrant has lifted the team from a 4-14 record to 13-5 and a second place finish, while spending the entire season in the CIS top five. He has yet to win a post-season match in his CIS coaching career, however, and the Dinos aim to rectify that stat this weekend.
What the Dinos lack in post-season experience they make up in home-court dominance. Calgary finished a perfect 10-0 at home in conference play this season, including big back-to-back sweeps over the UBC Thunderbirds and these same Winnipeg Wesmen. The two-game sweep of Winnipeg back on Jan. 16-17 came by virtue of two relatively comfortable 3-1 wins, and the Dinos took the fourth sets both nights by big margins (25-16, 25-14).
One of the keys to Calgary's success has been the breakout season for second-year setter Ciaran McGovern. After a strong freshman year where he landed on the CIS all-rookie team, McGovern took the reins of the national junior program and won a silver medal at the NORCECA championships in El Salvador. Buoyed by that experience, he effectively distributed the ball to the Dinos' many offensive weapons this season, finishing first in Canada West in total assists (779). The diminutive sophomore punched above his weight class as well – despite standing just six feet tall, he finished third on the team with 34 blocks on the season.
The powerful middle tandem of Oleg Podporin and Graham Vigrass each cracked the top 10 in hitting percentage in the conference this season, while the aforementioned Langford finished the season third in Canada West with 4.28 kills per set.
With the men's CIS championship to be held in Edmonton Feb. 27-Mar. 1, Canada West will send four representatives out of the eight teams present. Because No. 1 Alberta is guaranteed to be there as host, all four teams that advance to the conference Final Four next weekend will head back to the Alberta capital for nationals a week later.
Other men's playoff action this week has UBC visiting Brandon while Trinity Western hosts Thompson Rivers.
The best-of-three series goes in the Jack Simpson Gym, beginning Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m. The rubber match, if necessary, will happen Sunday with first serve at 3 p.m.
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