BOX SCORE
CALGARY – After dropping the first set 25-18, the unranked Calgary Dinos roared back in the second and held on to upset the No. 2 Trinity Western Spartans in four sets (18-25, 25-23, 25-18, 25-12) Friday night in the Jack Simpson Gym.
Calgary jumps ahead to 9-8 with the victory, while the loss drops the Spartans to 12-5. Both have three matches remaining in the conference season.
“It was a solid team performance tonight,” said first-year Dinos head coach Natalie Schwartz. “Different people stepped up in key moments, whether it was rookie
Emma Pedersen blocking their top middle or
Melanie Miazga with a huge kill. We were relentless, regardless of the score or outcome of the rally.
“We got a taste of what we're capable of tonight, but it was only a taste – it left us hungry for more tomorrow and the rest of the season.”
The Dinos served aggressively on the night, recording 11 aces against the Spartans' one – with both setter
Sarah Lacny and left side
Lindsey Doland pounding three hard serves into the floor on the Trinity Western side. Calgary committed just four service errors on the night, while the Spartans sent 10 serves into the net or out of the court.
The Spartans asserted control early, with Amy Leschied and Royal Richardson recording seven kills each in the opening set as the visitors rolled to a 25-18 win. Calgary responded in the second and, after leading 16-10 at the technical time out, took a tight set 25-23 after neither team performed particularly well in the frame offensively.
The third opened with a 5-0 run for the Spartans and they led 16-15 at the break – but that's where the match turned. Calgary closed the set with a 10-2 run, running away with it 25-18 to take the match lead. And in the fourth, things couldn't have gone better for Calgary or worse for Trinity Western. The Dinos jumped out to a 7-4 lead and, three aces out of four points from Doland later, it was 11-4 and the rout was on. The Spartans hit just 9.4 per cent in the fourth set, compared to an outstanding 38.5 per cent for Calgary as the Dinos salted away the upset win.
Richardson finished the night with 19 kills for the Spartans, with Leschied adding 17 – but most of their damage came in the first set when they combined for 14 kills, adding just 22 more through the final three frames. Leschied added 10 digs and a pair of blocks for Trinity Western, while Alicia Perrin was the next Spartan on the kills list with six.
The Dinos, on the other hand, got 13 kills from
Sarah Moncks and 11 from Miazga, who added six blocks to her stat line on the final home weekend of her CIS career.
Andrea Price chipped in with eight kills and a match-high 12 digs, while Doland added six kills to go with 10 digs on the night.
Calgary will look to clinch a playoff spot Saturday night when they host the Spartans in the rematch on Seniors' Night in the Jack Simpson Gym. First serve goes at 6 p.m. MT, live on CanadaWest.tv.
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