CALGARY – In many ways they came out of nowhere to win the national championship in 2010. Now, a veteran group embarks on the defence of that title.

The Dinos men's volleyball team opens the 2010-11 regular season this weekend when they host the Winnipeg Wesmen. It's a time to look forward to a new start and the long road to a repeat title, but Saturday night will also be a look back as the Dinos raise their 2010 national championship banner in the Jack Simpson Gym.

Game times are 8 p.m. both nights, live on www.goDINOS.com/dinovision.

“Last year doesn't mean much,” said Dinos coach Rod Durrant, beginning his fifth season with the program. “It does mean that when we play other teams, they'll know we're the national champs and get up that much more to play us – we've seen that in the preseason. It has been a good preseason for that, and we haven't been as successful as we thought we would be in some cases. The core guys that are back know what we need to do, and the additions we've brought in this year are fitting in well and we're on the right road now.”

Despite losing six fifth-year seniors to graduation, the Dinos might not even skip a beat. CIS tournament MVP Graham Vigrass and David Egan are solid in the middle, Jay Blankenau and Ciaran McGovern are two of the best setters in the nation, and Allen Meek has the ability to dominate on the right side. He rejoins the squad after sitting out the 2009-10 season, as does libero Blake Giles.

“Out of the six seniors we lost, only two were starters,” said Durrant of middle Oleg Podporin and libero Tom Porta. “We've been fortunate to have two guys that were with our program in 2008-09 rejoin the team, and Allen and Blake have filled those two spots.”

Meanwhile, a solid group of newcomers complements the core that includes four fifth-year seniors – Giles, left side Curtis James, setter/left side Aaron Cyr, and Egan. Andrew Visser, Levi Nutma, and Jace Richards make the trip up Crowchild Trail from Mount Royal to join the Dinos, while middle Trent Monagle comes in from Grande Prairie. It was another middle, however, that had by far the longest trip – Jovan Jankovic joins the Dinos all the way from Pancevo, Serbia.

“The younger guys have a steep learning curve, but the effort is there and they're getting better on a daily basis,” said Durrant. “It's about catching up to the older guys now.”

One of those older guys is the captain, fifth-year middle David Egan – the only senior to have spent all five seasons with the team.

“David leads by example, he competes extremely hard,” said Durrant. “He's seen this team go from a non-playoff program to a national champion in his four years here, and he has really grown a great deal to kind of come full circle. He has the respect of all his teammates and his coaches, and that says a lot about his character.”

Calgary looks to make its second straight trip to the national tournament, held March 3-5, 2011 at Trinity Western in Langley, B.C.

-UC-