CALGARY – Despite a promising first set victory, the University of Calgary Dinos couldn't match the Manitoba Bisons' intensity throughout Friday's women's volleyball tilt, dropping the 3-1 decision (25-19, 17-25, 14-25, 20-25) in Calgary.

The Manitoba Bisons were driven by a trio of players racking up double digit kills, with Rachel Cockrell, Kristi Hunter and Crystal Mulder combining for 36. The victory brings the third ranked Bisons to 3-0 on the young season, while the loss drops Calgary to 1-2.

Dinos Head Coach Natalie Schwartz was desolate in defeat.

“We were absolutely outworked today,” the first year coach explained. “In the first set we were pretty good, but we definitely got ahead of ourselves and stopped working. Manitoba brought it after the first set, and I feel like we stepped back.”

The Dinos sported a 35% attack rate in the first set but dropped off significantly in the next three sets, where they never eclipsed 5%. Calgary was led by Lindsey Doland, who earned 11 kills and 16 digs, while her teammate Sarah Moncks contributed 20 digs from her outside position.

Calgary took it to the Bisons in the first set with a strong performance defensively as well as from the serving stripe. Calgary kept small scoring runs alive with good hustle and opportune digs and rattled off four service aces to Manitoba's zero.

Stung by the opening set defeat, the Bisons came roaring back from there, opening up a 13-4 advantage by virtue of strong play at the net.  The Dinos used a 7-1 run to pull within three at 14-11, but a Bisons timeout and an immediate 5-0 run of their own ended any Calgary energy. Seven second set blocks from Tricia Mayba and Kristi Hunter helped catapult Manitoba to the 25-17 set victory, tying the match up at one game apiece.

With the momentum clearly on Manitoba's side, the Bisons pounded eight more kills than the Dinos in the third set en route to a convincing 25-14 set score. The fourth game would feature a little bit more fight from the Dinos, but it ultimately turned out similarly, with the Bisons taking the set and the match with a 25-20 score.

The Bisons were ultimately propelled by a significant 24-12 blocking advantage at the net, and 28 hitting errors from Calgary certainly didn't hurt.

The Dinos and Bisons resume play on Saturday night at the Jack Simpson Gymnasium to finish off the weekend set.

-UC-