BOX SCORE
CALGARY - The No. 1 Alberta Golden Bears needed five sets to take down the Calgary Dinos on Friday night at the Jack Simpson Gymnasium. In the marathon match, the Bears defeated the Dinos 3-2 (25-23, 14-25, 25-22, 18-25, 19-21).
The Dinos took the early lead in the first set against the No. 1 team in the nation, but with some hitting errors from the home team, Alberta tied it up at six. Later in the set, an ace from Jovan Jankovic once again gave Calgary the lead at 10-9. The score remained tight all the way up to the technical timeout, where Alberta would lead by a slim margin of one.
The Dinos fought back, taking the lead at 21-19, but Alberta wouldn't give up that easily, as they went on a three-point run to retake the lead, forcing Calgary to take a timeout. The Dinos would later get set up for the set point at 24-22, but it took one more for the Golden Bears to get the ball back and ultimately give the Dinos the first set win at 25-23, taking just the fifth set off Alberta all season.
After the big first set win, the Dinos had trouble in the second, going down 10-4 with head coach Rod Durrant having to call a timeout early on. Calgary was unable to stop the run with a big block from middle Matt McCreary and the technical timeout score read 16-8 in favour of the visiting Golden Bears.
The score didn't get much better from there as the Dinos deficity grew to ten at 20-10. Alberta solidified the second set win by a score of 25-14.
In the third, Calgary was down at the start of the set, but were putting up a fight with the No. 1 seed in the country. Dino Greg Mann was making his presence felt on the court and would total 10 kills in the game by the end of the third set.
Slowly closing the gap, a big block from Anton Louden in the middle, and a dump from setter Jackson Maris tied the score up at 15. A triple block on the right side would give the Dinos the lead heading into the technical timeout.
Calgary's momentum would continue with the quick break, going up 18-16 before Alberta head coach Terry Danyluk was forced to call a timeout. Two quick aces from the Golden Bears quickly tied it up at 18. Alberta would go on to miss three serves in a row, albeit winning each point back, to give the Dinos a one-point lead at 23-22. A big ace from Dino Sean Martin gave Calgary the set-point and once again Alberta would hand the final point to the Dinos on a hitting error to win it 25-22.
Despite a key third set win, the Dinos were unable to carry their win through to the fourth. Up 8-6 early on with Louden doing well in the front row, Calgary carried that lead to 9-7 before Alberta found a way to tie it up at nine.
Three consecutive hitting errors from the Dinos wouldn't help their situation as they would find themselves down 13-10. Calgary got the side out after Durrant called a timeout, but they still headed into the technical timeout down 16-13. The Dinos would continue to slide, allowing the Golden Bears to gain a six-point lead at 19-13 with a big block up front from McCreary.
Alberta maintained that lead until the end of the set, taking the win at 25-18 and forcing a fifth set to decide the winner.
Both teams would take turns trading points in a close fifth-set match, utilizing their middles. Some great defence would also be a factor, and the GB would earn the slight lead of one at the eight-point switch.
At 9-9, the Dinos would pick up two big points, the first from libero Cory Meeuwisse who would put a free ball over to no-man's-land on the Alberta side, and the second on a well-placed roll shot from Martin to go up 11-9. Calgary was unable to hold the lead though, as a tool Mitch Irvine tied it up at 12 and a block from McCreary put the Dinos down 13-12.
Set point went to Calgary on a stuff block from Dino Jeremy Guenther, but the set would need extra points as Alberta tied it back up at 14. Martin's stellar game continued with a key kill off a Golden Bears block, and although Alberta tied it back up at 15, the Dinos would have their third match point in hand at 16-15. A kill in the middle from Golden Bear Aubry once again tied the score at 16, with Durrant calling the timeout.
Continuing to trade points, Alberta's third opportunity to win the game came at 19-18, but a kill from Mann would keep the Dinos alive.
At 20-19, Olmstead's serve would solidify the win for the first-ranked team in the country, shanking Mann to win the fifth 21-19. The Dinos are just the fourth team to take sets off the No. 1 undefeated Golden Bears.
Mann had a game-high19 kills on the night and teammate Martin added 12 more for the Dinos. Alberta's Olmstead and Irvine each had 18 kills with Irvine picking up a game-high 13 digs.
The Dinos will get a second shot at taking down their rivals on Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. at the Jack Simpson Gymnasium.
