CALGARY – With a berth to next week's CIS championship tournament already secured, the Calgary Dinos men's volleyball team heads to the Canada West Final Four this weekend looking for consistency, momentum, and a good seed for nationals.

Thanks to a quarterfinal victory over Brandon by Thompson Rivers, the host of the national tournament, the all four teams at the Final Four have already booked their tickets to Kamloops next weekend. Supremacy in the toughest conference in the nation is on the line this weekend at the University of Alberta's Butterdome, but even more importantly, the Final Four results will dictate where the four Canada West teams stack up when the CIS championship seedings are announced Sunday.

Calgary is making its first appearance at the Final Four since 2003, which was also the last time the Dinos attended the CIS championship.

As the second-place team in Canada West on the regular season, the No. 4-ranked Dinos will take on fourth-place Trinity Western in one semi-final, with first serve at noon Saturday. Final Four host and first-place finisher Alberta, ranked No. 2 in the nation, faces sixth-place Thompson Rivers in the other semi at 2 p.m., and the two winners will meet in the conference final on Sunday.

The Dinos and Spartans split their season series 1-1, with both games coming in the Jack Simpson Gym Nov. 27-28. Calgary was ranked No. 1 in the nation at the time and earned the first win by a 3-1 score (25-14, 25-18, 19-25, 25-23) before the Spartans rebounded a night later to take a 3-1 win of their own (21-25, 25-19, 26-24, 25-20).

The teams also met in pre-season action, with the Dinos taking a 3-1 win at the Husky Dino Cup back in October.

Calgary earned their Final Four berth by virtue of their 2-0 series win over Manitoba in the quarterfinal round last week at home. Friday night's 3-1 win was as ugly as they come, with the Dinos struggling on defence as both teams seemed content to be less bad than the other. Saturday night Calgary swept the series with a 3-0 victory on a much better team effort, riding a 15-kill performance from Graham Vigrass.

Vigrass, along with the Calgary middles, Oleg Podporin and David Egan, and setter Ciaran McGovern will be front-and-centre at the Final Four, but the Dinos have depth on the bench that can help them in many situations. Case in point was the contribution of Pierre Rocque against the Bisons last weekend, coming off the bench to provide a steadying influence on defence and some needed offence for Calgary, especially in Friday night's contest.

Trinity Western makes its first Final Four appearance under head coach Ben Josephson, and they will be a threat this weekend in Edmonton. The Spartans led Canada West with 938 kills on the season, led by super sophomore Steven Marshall. Veteran middle Josh Doornenbal is always a threat, and the Spartans also played outstanding defence on the season – leading the conference with 11.36 digs per set, as well.

With the pressure mostly off this weekend and none of the teams facing elimination, the focus will be on continued improvement and consistency heading into the national tournament, where everything will be on the line. Of course, two teams will play for a championship and a trophy on Sunday – a trophy the Dinos have won eight times in their history, but not since 1994.

-UC-