CALGARY – The Calgary Dinos didn't have it easy with the UBC Thunderbirds in game number one of the Canada West quarterfinals, but they ultimately answered the bell at the right times, defeating the Birds by a 3-0 match score (26-24, 25-16, 25-22).

BOX SCORE

The Dinos dodged numerous Thunderbird rallies, especially in the first and third set to take the quarterfinal opener, one week after being denied the opportunity to bypass the opening weekend entirely as the host of the Canada West Final Four. As a result, the winner of the best-of-three series this weekend will go on to Edmonton next weekend instead, to face the Golden Bears and two other Canada West schools.

The three-set victory was in sharp contrast to the weekend battle between the Dinos and Birds back in January, where the teams endured two consecutive five-set marathons, both favouring the Dinos in the end. UBC had a remarkable eight matches go the distance to five sets during the 2011 season.

The deciding factor of the match was one at the net, where Calgary edged their west-coast rivals both offensively and defensively. Calgary connected on 35% of their kill opportunities to just 20% for UBC, and had five and a half more team blocks than their counterparts.

Head Coach Rod Durrant knows his side has to come out just as strong on Friday to once again take care of the gritty T-Birds.

“It was close for the majority of the match,” said Durrant. “They're a good team, we know that, and we have to keep working to improve tomorrow.”

“We can always clean up our side; our serve-receive can be better, and our blocking can still improve,” continued Durrant.  “Overall though I thought we served aggressively and we played well.”

All three games had a back-and-forth feel up until around the second technical timeouts, at which time Calgary tended to pick up momentum. In the first set UBC successfully battled back to 24-24, and in the third they took the lead at 22-21, but each time their undoing came with unforced errors. A missed Ben Chow serve and a UBC attacking error put the first set to rest following the late tie, while a late missed serve from Ryan Zwarich in the third set gave Calgary a 24-22 lead they wouldn't surrender.

Calgary had their fair share of troubles from the service line, with each Dino posting at least one missed serve en route to 15 errors on the match. The Dinos would have their best time attacking in the second set, where they converted on a ludicrous 58% of their chances.

The Dinos were led by Graham Vigrass, who doubled the next closest competitor on the floor with 16 kills to go with four blocks. Curtis James and Allen Meek each had eight kills, with Meek ending the second and third sets with a kill and a block respectively.

Libero Blair Bann was everywhere for the Birds on Thursday, hustling everywhere for eight digs, a total barely indicative of his overall impact. Joe Cordonier led the Birds with seven kills, while Cary Brett had three blocks.

The Dinos and T-Birds will tangle again for game two of the quarterfinal series on Friday, with game three scheduled for Saturday if necessary. Both games will go at 4 p.m. MT with Dinos basketball games following the playoff action.

-UC-