Photo courtesy Andrew Snucins

KAMLOOPS, B.C. – In a stunning turnaround late in what can only be described as a classic Battle of Alberta, the sixth-seeded Calgary Dinos ensured there would be a new national champion in 2010 after dethroning the two-time defending champ Alberta Golden Bears 3-2 (25-23, 19-25, 23-25, 25-23, 15-13) in Saturday's second semi-final at the 2010 CIS Men's Volleyball Championship.

Championship website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/mvball

BOX SCORE

The Dinos will face off with the third-seeded Trinity Western Spartans for CIS volleyball supremacy Sunday at 6 p.m. local (7 p.m. MT) at Kamloops' Tournament Capital Centre. Three hours earlier, the top two seeds in the tournament – No. 1 Laval and No. 2 Alberta – will play for bronze.

It was the first-ever win in four tries by the Dinos over the Bears at the CIS championship, it means Alberta will not play in the national final for the first time since 2001, and it puts the Dinos into that national championship match for the first time since 1993, when they defeated Montreal 3-0 to claim their third CIS title.

“Wow,” said fourth-year Calgary head coach Rod Durrant, who will lead his charges into Sunday's championship match in their first appearance at the national tournament in seven years. “A match like tonight just continues to show that these guys believe in each other, they're committed to each other, and they just play the game hard. I love watching them play when we have that energy.

“Four of the five sets were decided by two points, and that's what it is at this level.”

It was the second nailbiting five-setter in as many nights for the Dinos, who needed to bounce back from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Dalhousie in their quarterfinal Friday night. Against the Bears, Calgary came out like gangbusters on the strength of solid serving by second team All-Canadian Oleg Podporin, racking up a big lead early in the opening set. Things settled down from there as the two heavyweights slugged it out, with Calgary taking the first 25-23.

Alberta rebounded with a 25-19 win in the second, putting up the most lopsided score of the match. The Bears put themselves on the verge of a ninth straight championship game appearance with a 25-23 win in the third set, but Calgary managed a 25-23 win of their own in the fourth to force the fifth and deciding set.

After the Trinity Western-Laval semi-final had also gone to five sets, it was only fitting that the other semi-final would head there as well and the provincial rivals put on a show to punctuate a great evening of volleyball in the TCC. Alberta took its biggest lead of the set at 9-5, but the Dinos began to claw back point-by-point until a David Egan service ace brought Calgary within one at 12-11. Egan followed his ace by sending his serve straight into the net – a recurring theme on the night for the Dinos – to give the Golden Bears a 13-11 lead.

A Podporin kill got things back on track for the Dinos, and the Kazakh middle followed up his kill with a huge block of Alberta's Spencer Leiske to tie it at 13-13. Graham Vigrass set up match point with his 26th kill of the night, and Podporin teamed up with Curtis James to block Thomas Jarmoc to send the Dinos forward to the national final with a 15-13 win.

Vigrass continued to rack up the kills in his first CIS championship. After putting up 20 against Dalhousie, he scored 26 against Alberta with an incredible .457 hitting percentage. Egan added 13, while James put up 12 to lead the way offensively for Calgary. James also matched Tom Porta's team-high nine digs on the night, while setter Jay Blankenau was named player of the match after a 45-assist performance.

One key statistic that stood out for the Dinos and nearly cost them the match was service errors. Calgary gave up 21 points in the match off service errors compared to just nine by the Bears, and many came at inopportune times – including two in the fifth set.

“We're going to talk about that,” Durrant said with a wry smile. “They're trying, and maybe they're going to save their best serving match for tomorrow. We said from the beginning that we're going to need to get better through every game of this tournament, and tomorrow we're going to need to be our best.”

The Dinos will face the Trinity Western Spartans for the second time in as many weeks after meeting them in the Canada West semi-final last weekend in Edmonton, with the Spartans coming out on top 3-2. The teams split their two regular season meetings in Calgary, with the Dinos taking the lone non-conference contest – meaning in four matches so far on the season, each team has won twice. It will be the third national final appearance for the Spartans and their first since 2006, when they defeated Alberta 3-0 to win their lone national title.

Calgary is 3-1 all-time in national championship games, with wins coming in 1982, 1989, and 1993. Sunday, a new group of Dinos will look to etch their names into the history books.

“For this group to get this opportunity is awesome,” said Durrant. “They've earned it, they've worked hard. But as one of our players said during the celebration tonight, 'it's not over yet.'”

STATS LEADERS
 
Calgary
Kills: Graham Vigrass (26), David Egan (13), Curtis James (12)
Digs: Tom Porta, Curtis James# (9)
Assists:  Jay Blankenau (45)
 
BlackBerry player of the match: Jay Blankenau
 
Alberta
Kills: Spencer Leiske (18), Jason DeRocco (15), Thomas Jarmoc (14)
Blocks:  Justin Merta, Simon Lidster,Mike DeRocco (1)
Digs: Erik Mattson, Jason DeRocco (10)
Assists: Mike DeRocco (48)
 
SCHEDULE & RESULTS (all times LOCAL: Pacific Time)
 
Friday, March 12
 
Quarter-final #1: Laval 3, Montreal 0 (25-20, 25-20,, 25-18)
15:00 Quarter-final #2: Trinity Western 3  Queen's (25-19,15-23,25-19)
18:00 Quarter-final #3: Alberta 3  Thompson Rivers 1  (25-21,20-25,20-25,22-25)
20:00 Quarter-final #4: Calgary 3  Dalhousie 2  (21-25,24-26,25-20,25-19,16-14)
 
Saturday, March 13
 
13:00 Consolation #1: Queen's 3 Montreal 1 (27-29,22-25,25-16,24-26)
15:00 Consolation #2: Thompson Rivers 3  Dalhousie 0 (25-18,25-15,25-16)
18:00 Semi-final #1: Trinity Western 3  Laval 2   (25-22,20-25,25-23,23-25,18-20)
20:00 Semi-final #2: Calgary 3 Alberta 2 (25-23,19-25,23-25,25-23,15-13)
 
Sunday, March 14
 
13:00 5th/6th place: Queen's vs Thompson Rivers (SSN Canada)
15:00 Bronze medal Laval vs Alberta (SSN Canada)
18:00 Championship final: Trinity Western vs Calgary (SSN Canada)

-UC-