WINNIPEG – The No. 3 Calgary Dinos remained perfect on the Canada West regular season at 16-0, holding off a pesky No. 5 Manitoba Bisons team for the 3-0 (25-14, 26-24, 26-24) victory.

BOX SCORE

The loss leaves the Bisons in third place in the Canada West conference, while Calgary strengthens their hold on first place in the conference with the win. Up next for Calgary is a pivotal two game showdown with Alberta, where the Dinos need to win one of two matches to clinch first place and host the Canada West Final Four.

The Bisons would go point for point with the undefeated Dinos for the final two sets, but came up short late in both sets.

The Bisons were led by Chris Voth, who would finish the game with nine kills, while setter Chris Komishon would have 23 assists in a losing cause. Allen Meek would lead the Calgary attack with 15 kills, while his teammate Graham Vigrass would add 11 of his own.

Bisons head coach Garth Pischke said the Bisons are slowly getting back to what made them successful earlier in the season. “It was tough to watch the first set when we had no emotion,” he said. “We fought and battled after that. It's a war out there and you have to put that kind of emotion into it to win.”

To start the match, Calgary would score five of the first six points, and held an 8-2 lead at the first technical. The Bisons weren't able to make up much ground in the set, as collectively they had seven kills and seven errors on 25 attempts, compared to Calgary's 67 per cent team attack percentage. With that momentum behind them, the Dinos would take the first set handily 25-14, with Vigrass and Meek each having four kills.

The second set would be much closer than the first. The two teams would exchange points right up until the second technical timeout, where the Bisons held a 16-15 lead. It looked as though Calgary was going to be able to take the set when a Chris Hoag and David Egan block gave the Dinos a 22-20 lead, but the Bisons were able to tie things up at 23. Unfortunately for Bisons fans the next two-point lead would belong to Calgary, and it gave them the second set 26-24.

Emotions were just as high in the third set as they were in the second, as the Bisons were once again able to get into an 8-7 lead by the first technical. Later in the set, the Bisons would get a three-point lead over Calgary with a yellow card being issued to the Dinos. The Bisons would hold that lead long enough to force a Calgary timeout at 21-18. The timeout seemed to work for the Dinos, who would tie the set at 23, and a Meek kill would give them a 24-23 edge. Dane Pischke would save the Bisons with a kill to tie the game at 24, but the Dinos would take the next two points to take the set 26-24, and the game 3-0.

The Bisons (11-5) will travel to Trinity Western over the February 11 and 12 weekend, while Calgary (16-0) will host Alberta to end the Canada West conference regular season.

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