WINNIPEG - The Calgary Dinos bounced back from last weekend's rough outings to earn a big road win Friday night, taking down the fourth-ranked Winnipeg Wesmen 3-1 (23-25, 25-23, 25-18, 25-17) Friday night at the Duckworth Centre.
BOX SCORE
In the process, the Dinos clinched home court advantage for the first round of the playoffs after Thompson Rivers defeated Trinity Western, meaning that Calgary can finish no worse than fourth in the standings.
The victory pushes Calgary's record to 12-5 while the Wesmen, who had their nine-match winning streak broken, sit with a record of 11-6.
Graham Vigrass led the Dinos with a match high 17 kills.
Curtis James finished with 12 kills and four blocks. Setter
Ciaran McGovern finished with 39 assists and three service aces.
Justin Duff led the Wesmen with 13 kills and two blocks. Andrew Town had 10 kills and a match leading 17 digs along with three service aces. Matt Schriemer also had 10 kills. Setter Dan Lother had 41 assists.
The opening set started out as a tight affair with both teams exchanging points to the first technical timeout with the Wesmen holding an 8-7 lead. Calgary took advantage of some Wesmen errors to take the lead at the second timeout 16-14. The timeout sparked the Wesmen as they closed out the opening set 11-7 to win the opening set 25-23.
The Dinos gained the advantage in the second set holding slim leads of 8-5 and 16-15 at the technical timeouts. The teams exchanged points to 24-22, in Calgary's favor when Town came up with a big time kill to close the gap to 24-23 but on the next play Vigrass pounded one down the line to give Calgary a 25-23 second set win.
In the third set, the Dinos carried their momentum leading 8-6 at the first timeout and extending their lead to 16-12 at the second break. The Wesmen managed to close the gap to 17-15 late in the set but Calgary went on to outscore Winnipeg 8-3 down the stretch to win the third set 25-18.
The fourth set, once again started out a tight affair with Calgary holding on to an 8-6 lead at the first timeout and were able to take advantage of three Wesmen errors to build a 16-11 lead at the second break. The Dinos eventually closed out the match winning the set 25-17.
The Dinos will now host a best-of-three Canada West quarterfinal series Feb. 25-27 in the Jack Simpson Gym, where they will attempt to exorcise the ghosts of last season's three-set playoff upset at the hands of the very same Winnipeg Wesmen.
The two teams will wrap up their two match series on Saturday evening at 5 p.m. MT.
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