CALGARY – The Calgary Dinos watched their 2010 CIS national championship banner as it was unfurled above the Jack Simpson Gym then made short work of the Winnipeg Wesmen on the floor, sweeping their season-opening series with a straight-sets win (25-16, 25-20, 25-19) Saturday night.

BOX SCORE

Led once again by the outstanding middle tandem of Graham Vigrass and David Egan, No. 5 Calgary put together a solid effort from start to finish to improve to 2-0 after one week of the 2010-11 Canada West season.

“It was a complete performance tonight for our group, and our focus was there from the first point of the match right to the end of the third set,” said Rod Durrant, head coach of the victorious Dinos. “I thought they handled the pre-game stuff well and didn't let it affect their play. They enjoyed it, but as soon as they got on the floor and the match started, their attention was on the details on the court.”

Calgary dominated in all facets, out-hitting the Wesmen significantly. Winnipeg never led with the score above five points, and the Dinos were able to pull away in the middle of each set en route to the relatively easy win.

Vigrass, the 2010 CIS championship MVP, led the Dinos with 11 kills, followed closely by Chris Hoag's nine, Curtis James' eight, and Allen Meek's seven. Egan, Vigrass' counterpart in the middle, was a force defensively at the net, recording seven blocks as Calgary won in that statistical category as well by a 14.5-8 margin.

The Wesmen got an impressive effort from Ty Loewen, who came off the bench in Friday's series opener and went wire-to-wire Saturday. His 10 kills doubled the total of his nearest teammate, Matthew Dueck, as Winnipeg struggled with just 29 kills on the night against 22 attack errors.

The Dinos head on the road next week, facing the Saskatchewan Huskies for a two-game set at the PAC in Saskatoon. The Dinos and Huskies met at the Husky Dino Cup two weeks ago, with Calgary eking out a five-set win – and Durrant knows his team will be in for a stiff test.

“They're a very good team,” he said. “They're a solid passing team and they're disciplined at the net, so we'll need to be ready for them.”

Winnipeg, meanwhile, returns home to face the UBC Thunderbirds next week.

-UC-