CALGARY – Emotional, epic, marathon, classic – whatever adjective you choose, it would probably describe Friday night's 3-2 win by the third-ranked Calgary Dinos over the No. 9 Winnipeg Wesmen in the opening match of their Canada West Quarterfinal (30-28, 23-25, 25-22, 16-25, 15-13).
BOX SCORE
It looked anything but a typical two-versus-seven match-up, and to call it tight would be a massive understatement. But for the anomaly of the fourth set, a 25-16 battle victory for them who would end up losing the war, just five points separated the two sides as the hosts took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.
The winner advances to the Canada West Final Four next week and the CIS Championship in a fortnight, both in the University of Alberta Main Gym in Edmonton.
It was the first playoff win for the Dinos since the national quarterfinal in 2003 in their first home playoff game since 2002 – but they certainly didn't do it the easy way.
“We knew it was going to be tight, and they're a great team,” said Calgary head coach Rod Durrant of his opponents, who have been to the last two national finals – winning it all in 2007. “We took one step today. We stayed together, we got some momentum in the third set, but there's just not a whole lot between the teams.
“We struggled in the fourth on first ball contact and gave up a couple of big runs, but we were pretty good in the fifth set, and guys did some pretty good things. We're pleased with the win, but we have to get ready for tomorrow. One more.”
The match pitted two of the conference's top offensive threats against one another in Winnipeg's Andrew Town and Omar Langford of the Dinos. The two went virtually kill-for-kill through the entire match until a late surge by Langford gave him the kill crown on the night and his team the victory.
With the Wesmen leading 12-11 in the final frame after blocking Langford – one of 18 blocks on the night for the visitors – he came right back with his 23rd kill to tie it up. Durrant then substituted Allen Meek into the match, moving Langford to the power side from his usual right side spot, and the move paid off. His 24th kill made it 13-12 Calgary, and he punctuated the match with his 25th to give the Dinos the 15-13 win.
“We've tried that a few times, with Allen on the right side and Omar on the left,” Durrant explained. “In situations like that it's a nice option to have and it put us in a good position.”
Langford had eight of his 25 kills in the first set alone as the Dinos put up an impressive 22 total in the opener, a 30-28 win that was a sign of things to come. The second set went to Justin Duff and the Wesmen, with the 6-7 middle putting down seven kills after sitting out the first. Winnipeg pulled away after being tied 19-19 to take it 25-23.
The third looked like it was all Dinos early, with Calgary jumping out to a 16-8 lead. That lead quickly evaporated as Winnipeg chipped away, but Calgary did survive with a 25-22 win.
Winnipeg led the fourth wire-to-wire to send the match to the maximum five sets.
Town's 22 kills and Duff's 14 accounted for the lion's share of Winnipeg's offence, with Alan Ahow also hitting double digits with 10. Ahow and Town had 11 digs apiece to anchor a spectacular defensive night for Winnipeg, with the team recording 56 digs and 18 blocks.
The Wesmen out-dug, out-served, and out-blocked the Dinos by substantial margins on the night, but Calgary was able to put down 71 kills to Winnipeg's 60 – including 11 in the pivotal fifth set. Langford hit the quarter-century mark for the fourth time in the 2008-09 campaign, while Andrew Tallas added 18 and Chris Hoag 10. Setter Ciaran McGovern had a career-high 66 assists on the night and led all players with 12 digs to boot.
Despite the win and the upper hand in the series, Durrant isn't taking anything for granted heading into Saturday.
“Again, we know it's one win and we're going to need two to move on,” he said. “We'll be evaluating and making some adjustments and getting ready for tomorrow night.”
Match number two goes at 8 p.m. MT Saturday in the Jack Simpson Gym and, should the Wesmen succeed in extending their season, the series finale would go Sunday at 3 p.m. MT.
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