EDMONTON – After a lengthy night of volleyball in the University of Alberta's Main Gym, the Calgary Dinos are off to the Canada West championship match following a 3-2 semi-final win over the Trinity Western Spartans (25-27, 25-17, 25-21, 19-25, 15-11).
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The defending national champion Dinos will face the Brandon Bobcats for the conference title Saturday night in Edmonton, with the winner getting the top conference seed for next week's national championships in Langley, B.C. Brandon upended top-seeded, host Alberta 3-2 in the first semi-final of the night, which resulted in an extremely late start for the Dinos-Spartans contest.
The Dinos last won the Canada West championship in 1994.
Alberta will take on CIS championship host Trinity Western for conference bronze Saturday night.
Playing with an unfamiliar lineup on the floor due to injury, the Dinos managed to pull out the match at the end with a 15-11 fifth-set win over the Spartans.
“We're very pleased with the effort and the overall performance,” said
Rod Durrant, the Canada West coach of the year. “It might have been our best team effort since Christmas.
Ciaran McGovern did a great job at libero,
Levi Nutma was admirable on the left side, and
Allen Meek had a very good night.”
Calgary received 15 kills and three aces from fourth-year right-side Meek, while recently-crowned conference MVP
Graham Vigrass added 13 kills in the win.
Rudy Verhoeff, a 2011 Canada West first team all-star, led all players on the floor in kills with 22, while Josh Doornenbal, a fifth-year middle originally from Edmonton, chipped in with 13 for TWU.
Considering that Calgary is ranked No. 4 in CIS, and TWU is No. 5, the match wasn't exactly a sterling example of top tier volleyball. The teams combined for 45 attack errors, 36 service errors, and eight serve receive errors. Calgary fared marginally better on the attack, generating a team 25 percent hitting rate, while the Spartans posted a 24 percent rating. TWU struggled at the service line, committing 22 errors and just three aces. The Dinos, led by three from Meek, spun five aces, and had 14 errors at the line.
One area Calgary did dominate was digs, as they brought up 51 Spartan attacks to keep the play alive, while TWU recorded 39 digs.
The Dinos scored 25 points in the first three sets, but dropped the opener by a score of 27-25. They seemed to be cruising after the third set, up 2-1, but Trinity Western found another gear, and managed to get momentum on their side, winning 25-19 in the fourth to force the fifth and final frame.
Calgary streaked out to a 9-4 lead to start the final set, but a couple of offensive miscues by the Dinos, and some well-timed points by Trinity, saw that advantage shrink to a 10-7 lead. With the momentum seemingly poised to shift once again, Calgary regained their composure, struck up an 11-7 lead, and then sailed on to the win, notching the winning kill off the Spartan block and out of play.
Although all four Canada West teams advance to the CIS national championship next weekend in Langley, BC, the conference trophy and national tournament seedings are still at stake. A Dinos win virtually cements them as the No. 2 seed at nationals, likely behind the Laval Rouge et Or. A Brandon win could create an interesting scenario at nationals, as the Bobcats are ranked No. 7 in CIS, behind all other Canada West teams, as well as Western Ontario and Laval. Along with the four Canada West teams, Laval and Sherbrooke will also be in Langley as will the AUS champion UNB Varsity Reds and the OUA championship team which will also be crowned Saturday.
Seedings aside, the Dinos focus their attention to the task at hand and the Brandon Bobcats.
“Brandon has some talent and they put pressure on UofA, so that's a big win for their program tonight,” said Durrant. “It certainly makes for an interesting match-up tomorrow night.”
Calgary swept Brandon on the road in their two contests earlier this season.
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