CALGARY - The University of Calgary women's volleyball team got back on track on Friday night when they defeated the Winnipeg Wesmen in four (26-28, 25-17, 25-17, 25-22) at Jack Simpson Gymnasium.
The Dinos now improve to 11-8, while the Wesmen drop to 7-10.
"I always this, but in Canada West, wins are precious, but especially for this group who came off a tough weekend against UBCO and so winning for our morale and confidence is huge," said Dinos head coach Natalie Gurnsey.
For Calgary, a number of Dinos had stellar nights including rookie Kate Pexman with a game-high 19 kills and 13 digs, Ali Woolley with 12 kills and 12 digs and middle Jaylynn Moffatt with another 11 kills up front. Fifth-years Jordhynn Guy and Amber Brown were also great in their respective postions, with Guy recording 46 assists and Brown picking up a game-high 19 digs.
The Wesmen were lead by Tia Boroski from the left-side with 11 kills and 12 digs, followed by teammate Aaliyah Masepela with another 9 kills for the visitors. Setter Ellina Domnidou added 31 assists and 13 digs while libero Sonia Rossy recorded a team-high 15 digs.
With injuries plaguing the Dinos, it was an important win for the home team. Starting right-side and one of the teams leaders in kills, Janna Ogle was a major missing factor in the Dinos lineup, but Brianna Solberg filled in beautifully, picking up six kills and 12 digs. Outside hitter Amber Adolf was also on the injured list.
"We've talked all year about the depth of our bench and we just continued to talk about that as we prepared this week," said Gurnsey. "We train everybody all year for these moments so it's just a seamless transition when we deal with injuries. We had to have confidence in the depth of our team."
In the first set, it took quite a few points for the Dinos to find their groove, but eventually tied the game at eight and further took the lead at 11-8, forcing the Wesmen to call a timeout. The lead didn't last long as the Dinos had trouble passing, allowing Winnipeg to get back in the game and tying it at 15. With the teams looking evenly matched, the set went down to the wire with the Wesmen taking the first set in extra points at 28-26 on a service ace.
After a disappointing first set loss, the Dinos' wake up call was just what they needed to handily take the second and third sets 25-17 with overpowering offence from a number of Dinos on the floor.
Winnipeg did a better job of putting up a fight in the fourth set, staying tied with the Dinos all the way down to 11 points. It didn't last long though as Calgary regained the lead and headed into the technical timeout up 16-12 on a huge single block from Woolley. The blocking didn't stop there as the Dinos continued to shut down the Wesmen offensive attack. Winnipeg attempted to make a later comeback, cutting down the lead from six to three, but it was so no avail as Pexman recorded the final kill of the night to earn the important match win.
"We have some long term goals that we are chasing after and this weekend is very important to step in that direction," said Gurnsey. "We know as a group we are really focused on staying disciplined and never taking a team lightly and doing our jobs. I don't see this team relaxing, I feel like we just got warmed up after that match and that's going to be my message to them heading into tomorrow."
The Dinos will rematch the Wesmen tomorrow night at 5pm at Jack Simpson Gymnasium.
