CALGARY – The third-ranked Calgary Dinos completed their second straight straight-sets victory over Thompson Rivers Saturday night, dispatching the WolfPack with their tails between their legs thanks to a 25-23, 25-17, 25-15 victory.

BOX SCORE

Calgary, the defending CIS champion, improves to 14-0 on the season with four matches remaining and has dropped just nine sets in those 14 matches.

“I'm very pleased with the performance tonight,” said Rod Durrant, fifth-year Calgary head coach. “We got contributions from everyone, and it was solid all around for us.”

After taking all three sets Friday night by the minimum two points, things looked like they'd be the same after the first set, which Calgary won 25-23 thanks to an Allen Meek kill. From there, however, the Dinos took control and won the following two sets by comfortable margins, 25-17 and 25-15.

Ciaran McGovern replaced Jay Blankenau at the setting spot for Calgary in the third set and performed very well, grabbing 14 assists to go with three blocks and a kill. Once again, it was the Dinos' middles that carried the mail with Graham Vigrass going 11-for-17 while David Egan went 6-for-11.

“Ciaran had a great match, he brought a different look and lots of energy, and both David and Graham got their sets and were able to be successful,” Durrant said. “That was created by the power hitters passing well and allowing us to stay in system.”

Kevin Tillie once again saw the majority of the volume for Thompson Rivers, though he was able to convert just seven kills on 27 attempts while committing six errors. Joel Caschetto added five kills while Ryan Talsma and Michael Hammond had four each as the WolfPack managed just 25 kills on the night against 44 for the host Dinos.

Curtis James and Allen Meek each added nine kills for Calgary, which hit 35 percent as a team compared to just 8.5 for TRU.

Already assured of a home playoff date thanks to their undefeated, 14-0 record on the season, the Dinos head into their final two weeks of the season against the two teams directly behind them: the Manitoba Bisons and the Alberta Golden Bears. The season closes with a trip to Winnipeg next week followed by a visit from the archrivals Feb. 11-12.

“We have two tough, solid teams coming up,” said Durrant. “Our goal is to finish first and host the Final Four, but we're going to have to be ready to play these next two weekends.”

Thompson Rivers, now 5-9, closes out the season with four matches at home, facing Winnipeg and UBC on consecutive weekends.

-UC-