CALGARY – The Brandon University Bobcats rode an impressive performance on the net to win their second match of the season with a 3-1 victory (25-20, 25-23, 20-25, 25-20) over the Calgary Dinos Saturday night in the Jack Simpson Gym.

BOX SCORE

Brandon improves to 2-6 on the season, while Calgary falls back to the .500 mark at 4-4 following the series split, which opened with a 3-1 Calgary win Friday night.

The Bobcats dominated play at the net, out-blocking the Dinos by a whopping 16-6 margin with seven of those coming in the pivotal second set. Led by Jonathan Sloane's nine blocks, Brandon managed to emerge with the win despite being out-killed by Calgary 63-56 – mostly due to just 13 attack errors in four sets.

“The blocking was certainly part of it, but that wasn't the whole story,” said Dinos head coach Rod Durrant. “Brandon played extremely well. They were a team that came into this match with a 1-6 record, and they made some really good adjustments from last night. We were unable to shut down a couple of their key guys, and a couple of our guys didn't live up to the standard they set last night.

“We made 11 hitting errors in the first set, even after we addressed that this afternoon because we did the same thing last night. We need to improve on that, because we can't afford to give teams that many points.”

The Bobcats took the opening set relatively easily at 25-20 with just 10 kills as the Dinos gave up four service errors and 11 attack errors. Sloane started an impressive night right off the get-go for Brandon, recording four kills on five swings in the first set.

The second set saw Calgary leading late at 21-19 when Ben Glue caught fire for Brandon. Three Glue kills and a block later, the Bobcats had a 23-22 lead and sealed the set win when Sloane and setter Garrett Popplestone combined to deny Calgary's Levi Nutma on the left side.

The Dinos were able to mitigate their mistakes in the third, with 20 kills against just four errors and were rewarded with a 25-20 victory. But Brandon held Calgary to just 14.8 per cent hitting in the fourth set to take the match with a 25-20 win.

Sloane finished 17-for-29 offensively along with those nine blocks, while Glue's 19 kills were a game high. Paul Robidoux also chipped in with double digits, recording 10 kills, while Pollpestone had a match-high 12 digs for Brandon.

Calgary was led by an 18-kill performance from Chris Hoag, while Graham Vigrass put down 15 balls on the night. Hoag was also the team's defensive leader with 12 digs, while setter Jay Blankenau recorded seven kills on 10 attempts with no errors.

The Dinos (4-4) head to Vancouver next weekend to face the UBC Thunderbirds, while Brandon (2-6) remains on the road as they get set for a trip to Regina, where they will face the Cougars.

-UC-