BOX SCORE
CALGARY – The Calgary Dinos used a proficient offence, solid defence, and a dominant performance at the net to defeat the Brandon Bobcats 3-1 (25-21, 21-25. 25-16, 25-20) Friday night to draw first blood in their best-of-three Canada West Quarterfinal series.
Calgary moves just one win away from advancing to both the Canada West Final Four next week in Langley, B.C. as well as the CIS championship a week later in Kingston, Ont. The Dinos will look to close out the Bobcats in Game 2 Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Jack. If necessary, Game 3 goes Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.
Led by an all-star performance by reigning CIS player of the year
Graham Vigrass, who posted 17 kills and a 44 per cent attach efficiency, the Dinos hit nearly 34 per cent as a team on the night en route to the victory.
After spotting the Bobcats an early lead in the first set, the block turned things around for Calgary as Vigrass scored back-to-back rejections of Paul Robidoux and Dan Boutwell to tie it. The sequence ended as a 6-0 run for Calgary, which led the rest of the way and took a 25-21 lead on yet another block, this time from Vigrass and Blankenau.
Brandon shot out to a quick 5-0 lead in the second set, forcing the Dinos into a time out after a good serving run by Boutwell. After trailing by five at 7-2 as well, Calgary made a push and took the lead at 11-10, eventually stretching that to 13-10 before the Bobcats got into the blocking game, paced by substitute Jeremy Stubler. Brandon did finally regain the momentym and took the lead for good at 19-18 on a kill by Sam Tuivai, and Jonathan Sloane pounded one of his 11 kills on the night to end the second 25-21 for Brandon.
The third was tight early, and all Calgary from then on. Behind a solid serve, the Dinos broke it open after trailing 8-7 and ended the frame on an 18-7 run, with
Allen Meek and
Greg Mann leading the way offensively. Two straight blocks late in the set sent Meek back to the service line, and he aced Brendan White to put the Dinos a set away from taking the match.
Again, Brandon shot out to an early lead and the Bobcats were up by as many as four at 11-7, then held a three-point edge when Boutwell pounded a kill to send Brandon into the technical time out up 16-13. But there the wheels fell off for Brandon, while the Dinos made the most of their chances: three straight Brandon errors tied it at 16, while a pair of Mann kills put Calgary up for good and the Bobcats couldn't recover. The match ended, fittingly, on a Calgary block, with Vigrass and
Chris Hoag combining to stuff Ben Glue for a 25-20 win.
Glue and Tuivai, the New Zealanders, were the offensive catalysts for Brandon, with Tuivai leading the way at 14 kills. Glue added 12, while Sloane went 11-for-19 without a single error to hit .579 for Brandon.
For the Dinos, Vigrass' stat line was exceptional, with 17 kills on 32 swings along with five digs and nine blocks. Meek added 14 kills and six digs, while Mann had a solid night on the left side with 13 kills and seven digs. Blankenau led Calgary with nine digs, chipping in six blocks as well, as the Dinos out-stuffed the Bobcats by a 15-7.5 margin.
Brandon will look to force Game 3 with a win Saturday night, with first serve slated for 7 p.m. MT live on CanadaWest.tv.
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