CALGARY – Plagued by injuries and sustaining another midway through the match, the Calgary Dinos still managed to give the No. 1 UBC Thunderbirds all they could handle before eventually falling 3-2 in an epic Canada West women's volleyball match Friday night in the Jack Simpson Gym (29-31, 26-24, 25-19, 21-25, 17-15).

BOX SCORE

As it happened, however, the Dinos ended up losing more than just the match. With 2010 CIS all-rookie teamer Maura Hayes already out of the lineup along with rookie middle Courtney Dawson, Calgary lost left side Laura Wilson with an apparent left knee injury late in the third set. With the score tied 19-19 and the match knotted up at one set apiece, Wilson was blocked by UBC's Rayel Quiring and landed awkwardly on her left leg. She was helped off the floor, but her loss deflated the Dinos for the remainder of the set as UBC finished on a 6-0 run to win 25-19.

Wilson had been putting up solid numbers to that point, and her replacement continued that trend. Sarah Moncks came off the bench and picked up seven kills in just over two sets' full-time work. Yet, despite a pair of match-point opportunities in the fifth set, Calgary couldn't overcome the dominance of UBC national teamer Kyla Richey.

With the score 14-12 Calgary in the fifth, Richey set up Rayel Quiring's side-out kill, then stepped back to the line. Her tough spin serve handcuffed the Dinos and forced a tough attempt by ##Melanie Miazga, which was easily blocked by a pair of UBC defenders, and then she gave UBC the lead 15-14 with an ace right down the middle. It capped a night where she had a match-high 17 kills in her first action with the T-Birds since returning from her Team Canada duties.

Jen Hinze, another national teamer, was also solid in her return to the T-Birds line-up picking up six block and nine kills.

Calgary relied on runs throughout the night including a fourth-set span where a 5-1 streak followed by a Lindsey Doland kill that pushed the match to a final game. In that fourth set, it was Lindsay Russell who ignited the Dinos' response as she collected three straight kills to kick-off a 6-2 Calgary run with the Dinos trailing midway through the set.  Doland and Russell led the Dinos with 14 kills apiece, while Miazga added 10.

These two teams square off again on Saturday night. Start time is set for 6 p.m. MT in the Jack Simpson Gym.

-UC-