BOX SCORE CALGARY – It wasn't as easy as their Saturday straight-sets win, but the UBC Okanagan Heat improved to 10-2 on the season Sunday with another 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-18) win over the University of Calgary Dinos to wrap up conference play for the calendar year.

On the strength of solid, consistent offence, strong defence, and a killer instinct late in sets, the Heat handed the short-staffed Dinos their sixth setback in a row and their eighth overall on the season, with Calgary falling to 4-8 as they head into the Christmas break.

Despite the loss, however, Calgary head coach Natalie Gurnsey was pleased with her team's bounce-back effort after a rough outing in Friday night's series opener.

"It was night and day out there," said Gurnsey. "Even though we lost 3-0, it was one of our best team performances in a couple of weekends. We've struggled to work together and fill our roles, so I was happy with that."

All three sets were tight until the late stages, when the Heat managed to pull away and score consecutive points to put away the Dinos. In the first it was 22-22 as the Heat scored three in a row to take it 25-22, and UBC Okanagan pulled the same feat in the second set, scoring five straight to break a 20-20 tie.

"At 20-20, that's when you need to make plays and not errors," said Gurnsey. "We've progressed to the point where we can be in it at 20-20 every set, and that's the next step. To me, it's just a maturity thing, and we need to keep talking about it and recognize it. But I was happy we came out and put three consistent sets together."

Katilynn Given led UBC Okanagan with 12 kills on the night, but it was Katie Wuttunee who stood out most. On 11 attempts, Wuttunee managed 10 kills and just one error for a whopping 81.8 per cent efficiency, adding a trio of block assists to her total. Katy Klomps chipped in with nine kills while Megan Festival added eight as the Heat hit better than 30 per cent as a team on the afternoon.

For the Dinos, Maura Hayes managed 14 kills while Ali Woolley added eight and Janna Ogle seven. Woolley led the team with 10 digs, while Angelica Quiring was in on four blocks to pace Calgary.

UBC Okanagan out-blocked the Dinos by a 12-5 margin and held a 53-37 edge in total digs and a 48-36 advantage in kills.

The weekend wrapped up a roller-coaster first half of the year for the Dinos, who started the year at 4-2 before running into injury trouble and winning just one set in their final six matches. With the extended break upcoming, Calgary will have a chance to regroup, get some injured players back in the lineup, and get set for the stretch drive that begins in January.

"We just need to get everybody healthy – it takes more than seven people to win a match," said Gurnsey. But I'm looking at more than our record with this team – we need to keep growing, getting physically stronger, finishing plays, and becoming a tough team to beat."

At 10-2, UBC Okanagan sits solidly in second place in the Canada West standings heading into the break, while the 4-8 Dinos sit tied with Winnipeg for ninth in the conference standings. Both teams are idle in terms of conference play until the weekend of Jan. 10-11, when the Heat will host the first-place, undefeated UBC Thunderbirds in a battle for first place, while the Dinos will play host to the Manitoba Bisons to ring in the New Year.

-UC-