BOX SCORE CALGARY – The third set showed they could play with the No. 2 team in the nation, but the University of Calgary Dinos couldn't force a fourth and fell 3-0 (25-27, 25-16, 30-28) to the Brandon Bobcats Saturday night to wrap up their 2013-14 Canada West season.

After dropping the first two sets by relatively lopsided scores, the Dinos came to fight in what ended up as the final set of their season. Back and forth the teams went as the score climbed higher and higher, and both teams had opportunities to end it, and in the end the Bobcats were just that much better as they defeated the young Dinos 30-28.

Calgary finishes 5-17 on the year and out of the playoffs, while second-ranked Brandon wraps up the campaign at 17-5 and will host a best-of-three Canada West quarterfinal next weekend.

Dinos head coach Natalie Gurnsey was happy with the fight her youthful squad showed to end an up-and-down season.

"That's exactly how I wanted to go out this weekend," said Gurnsey. "You can't always control the wins and losses, but we wanted to go out and fight. I'm happy that that was the last set of our season, and I'm hoping that's what stays fresh in the girls' minds – that's what we're capable of when we come to play and come to fight.

"This whole year has been a learning experience. My rookies have had more opportunity than probably any other team in the country. They've been put in tough situations, they've had so much responsibility with nobody to bail them out. It will make them better in the long term, it just was hard this year. For this program's health in the long term, this experience will be beneficial."

Ali Woolley was Calgary's offensive leader with 11 kills, while Janna Ogle continued her impressive play with a 10-kill, 12-dig night. Playing libero, Maura Hayes led the Dinos with 15 digs, while Woolley also had a dozen defensive ups as well.

But a quartet of Bobcats hit double-digits in kills as part of a 51-37 advantage overall in that department for Brandon. Vaovia Aiono's 11 kills led the way, with Victoria Dakin, Shanlee McLennan, and Meaghan Robertson chipping in 10 apiece. Veteran libero Donata Huebert's 19 digs was a match high, and McLellan was solid defensively with 18 digs as well.

Brandon clinched second place in the conference with the victory and will play host to a best-of-three quarterfinal next weekend. The winner will advance to UBC and the Canada West Final Four.

-UC-