CALGARY – The middle tandem of Laura Spence and Ali Sandholm caused problems for the opposition all night as the eighth-ranked Calgary Dinos inched closer to a playoff spot with a 3-2 (25-17, 20-25, 25-23, 19-25, 15-13) win over the Brandon Bobcats Friday night in the Jack Simpson Gym.

BOX SCORE

In a back-and-forth affair where neither side was able to take much momentum from the other, the Dinos captured the first, third, and fifth sets to improve to 8-9 on the 2009-10 season. Brandon falls to 12-5.

“Our middles really presented a challenge for them defensively,” said second-year Calgary head coach Jesse Knight. “We had a challenge shutting down their outside hitters, but the main thing for us was that we had key stops in key moments, and that's why we came out with the victory.”

Sandholm and Spence combined for 24 kills on the night while adding just six errors between them, while senior left side Raynell Lavertu had a solid outing with 17 kills and a team-high 12 digs. Sandholm was also impressive defensively, recording seven blocks to earn player-of-the-match honours.

A solid performance by the Dinos in the opening set led to a relatively easy 25-17 win, but that was the most lopsided of the five sets on the night as Brandon was forced into 12 errors. The Bobcats turned that around and managed just three errors in the second set, which they took 25-20, before Calgary rebounded with a tight 25-23 win in the third.

The fourth set was Brandon's after they broke a 12-12 tie en route to the 25-19 win, setting up the fifth-set showdown.

Calgary hit an impressive 30 per cent in the deciding frame while Brandon managed just nine. The Bobcats actually held an 11-9 advantage in the late stages, but Calgary's Maura Hayes pounded three of her 11 kills in the final eight rallies of the match and Sandholm iced the 15-13 win for Calgary.

“We were efficient in the fifth set and that was huge,” said Knight. “But I don't expect their (Brandon's) totals will be the same tomorrow, they'll be a lot better and we need to come out prepared for that.”

Teagan Hunter posted a match-high 20 kills for Brandon, but they were mitigated by 12 errors. Jaryn Ruether added 16 kills while Nicole Ban added 11. Erin Visch-Krahn was the Bobcats' digs leader with 13, while Claire Willerton added a match-high eight blocks.

The re-match goes Saturday night with first serve at 6 p.m. MT.

-UC-