CALGARY – The Brandon University Bobcats ended the Calgary Dinos' first-place hopes Saturday night, completing the weekend sweep with a 3-2 victory in Calgary's Jack Simpson Gym (25-22, 23-25, 25-21, 18-25, 15-13).

BOX SCORE

A Calgary win would have clinched both home court advantage as well as at least an opportunity to finish in a first-place tie with Alberta, where the team with the greater sets won-lost percentage would have been granted hosting rights for the Final Four. Instead, the Golden Bears will host the conference tournament, while Calgary's playoff picture gets that much muddier.

In a match that the Dinos had no business being in for much of the night, the victory was still there for the taking when Calgary took a 10-8 lead in the fifth set. Brandon immediately responded with a four-point run to take a 12-10 lead, but the Dinos were able to respond with back-to-back kills to even the score at 12-12.

An attack error by Graham Vigrass – one of six errors in the set for Calgary – set up match point at 14-12. Though the Dinos were able to fight off the first Brandon attempt and come to within just a single point, the Bobcats completed the weekend sweep when mass confusion resulted in just two Dinos contacts, with the ball falling to the floor on the Calgary side.

While the Dinos were able to contain Brandon star Paul Sanderson much more effectively than they had in Friday's straight-sets loss, the Aussie still managed to put down 25 kills while teammate Kevin Miller added 13 and Jonathan Sloane nine. The same trio led the way offensively for the Bobcats each night as they extended their winning streak over Calgary to more than five years.

Omar Langford and Oleg Podporin both had good outings for the Dinos after being recognized before the final regular season home games of their CIS careers alongside fellow seniors Tom Porta, Brendan Ray, Pierre Rocque, and Don MacNeill. Langford had 14 kills and Podporin 12, while Vigrass was the team's offensive leader from his spot on the left side with 16 kills.

Calgary actually held the edge statistically in several categories, including kills (67 vs. 61) and hitting percentage (.284 vs. .281). But it was on defence where the Bobcats shone most, recording 62 digs against Calgary's 49, which resulted in several long rallies well into the fifth set. Brandon also dominated at the net, recording nine team blocks against Calgary's six – four of which were solo efforts.

The result drops Calgary's record to 11-5 on the year while Brandon inches closer to the Dinos at 10-6 with two games left to play. The Bobcats host the last place, 0-16 Regina Cougars next weekend to close out the season, while Calgary visits the Winnipeg Wesmen, also 11-5, for the first time since Winnipeg knocked the Dinos out of the playoffs last year in an epic quarterfinal series.

The playoff permutations are still mind boggling, but here's what we do know:
•    The Dinos can clinch second place in the standings with two wins over Winnipeg
•    A split with Winnipeg could result in a four-way tie for second place at 12-6 with Calgary, Winnipeg, Brandon, and Trinity Western, with the tie to be broken based on sets won-lost percentage over the entire season
•    Calgary can still host a playoff series with two losses at Winnipeg, but they would need some help and it would still come down to a tiebreaker

In short, the Dinos do control their own destiny and the math is impossible to predict.

Stay tuned to goDINOS.com for the latest on the playoff picture.

-UC-