BOX SCORE

KINGSTON, Ont. – It wasn't the position they were hoping for, but the sixth-seeded University of Calgary Dinos finished the 2012 CIS championship by bouncing the Alberta Golden Bears 3-1 (21-25, 25-15, 25-16, 25-20) Sunday morning in the fifth-place match at Queen's University.

The game was a rematch of last weekend's Canada West bronze medal match won in four sets by Alberta.

The Dinos return home from the CIS tournament with a 2-1 record including a 3-1 quarterfinal loss to No. 3 Laval on Friday, a 3-0 consolation victory over No. 7 Western on Saturday, and the win over their provincial rivals.

The Bears lost 3-1 to No. 5 Queen's in the first round before sweeping No. 8 Dalhousie in straight set on Saturday.

Calgary was led by fifth-year right side hitter Allen Meek of Calgary, who earned player of the game honours. Meek was the top attacker for the Dinos as he recorded a team-high 13 kills and a service ace. He also contributed six digs and four blocks on defence.

“It feels good going out on a win, and against UofA, too, the provincial rival, it feels nice,” said Meek. “Having the maturity on our team helped us to stay level and control the emotions, and we just executed from there. You always want to end well, and the last time you're putting on the jersey it's nice to end with a W.”

Meek along with fellow fifth-year seniors Graham Vigrass, Jay Blankenau, Jace Richards, and Levi Nutma played their final CIS career matches and emerged on top in the Battle of Alberta Sunday afternoon.

Dinos head coach Rod Durrant was pleased with the way his team closed a weekend that started disappointingly in the quarterfinal.

“I'm really proud of the way the group played today,” said Durrant. “They knew it was their last match and wanted to go out on a winning note. There are two guys here that have won a gold and a bronze and now a fifth-place, and three more that have been here two years in a row. The program has resurged back into one of the top teams in the country because of the core and the leadership of this group.

“We served the ball really well, and because of that our block got stronger and our confidence got better and better. Graham and Meek were very good, and Jay had a great day getting them the ball too. Our left sides did a good job passing…it's just nice to execute and finish the season on that note and for those guys to finish their careers with a positive. I fully expect several of these guys to move on and play for Team Canada, and hopefully sometimes we'll see them in the Olympics.”

The Golden Bears were led by player of the game Jay Olmstead of Edmonton, who had a game-high 15 kills and chipped in eight digs on defence.

After dropping the first set 25-21, the Dinos responded in the second with a dominant performance as their block began to take its toll on the Bears. Calgary put up six stuffs in the set, holding Alberta to just 10 kills in a 25-15 win. From there they kept the pressure on, holding the Bears to just eight kills and picking up four aces in the third en route to a 25-16 win.

The fourth was tighter, but wound up in the Dinos' favour 25-20.

After starting the match with an impressive 37 per cent kill efficiency in the first set, the Bears struggled the rest of the way with Calgary's aggressive serving and defence, hitting just 8.2 per cent the rest of the way.

Meek and Vigrass each finished with 13 kills on the day, while Chris Hoag added a dozen from his left side position. Blankenau and libero Richards, two more fifth-year players, shared the team lead with 10 digs while Ivan Kartev was a factor in seven of the Dinos' 14.5 blocks on the day.

The CIS men's volleyball championship heads to Université Laval in Quebec City next season before the Dinos have the opportunity to host the 2014 tournament in the Jack Simpson Gym.

-UC-