CALGARY - The No. 6 University of Calgary Dinos women's volleyball team swept the Winnipeg Wesmen 3-0 (26-24, 25-20, 25-20) on Jan. 17 at Jack Simpson Gymnasium.
The sweep keeps Calgary in playoff positioning with a 12-8 record after the weekend, while Winnipeg drops to 7-11.
"A sweep is huge for us," said Dinos head coach Natalie Gurnsey. "At this point, it looks like were fighting to be able to host playoffs so the more wins we have, the better position we're in to do that so it's always nice to sweep in this conference."
The Dinos were once again led by rookie Kate Pexman who had ten kills on the night and a game-high 14 digs. Ali Woolley followed closely behind with another nine kills. Setter Jordhynn Guy recorded 28 assists and middle Jaylynn Moffatt added four blocks.
"Jaylynn brought it to a whole other level in the third set when it came to blocking and our left-sides played great tonight and they really pulled us through that match, especially Ali Woolley."
For Winnipeg, Tia Boroski had a game-high 12 kils while three Wesmen recorded ten digs each including setter Ellina Domnidou, Mackenzie Jeffrey and libero Sonia Rossy.
It was a rough start for the home team as the Dinos found themselves down 5-0 to begin the match. Attempting to fight their way back, Calgary didn't begin to catch up until Pexman came through with a kill and two aces to get the Dinos within one at 19-18. After two big kills from Woolley, the Dinos tied it at 20. The score remained tied until 24 where Calgary finished off the first set 26-24.
In the second, both teams battled it out, but it was the Dinos who came out on top early on with a 10-7 lead, forcing Winnipeg to call their first timeout. Calgary quickly following that gave up a few points giving the Wesmen their first lead of the set. The score wasn't tied back up until 15. Middle Beth Vinnell came through in the front row after a crucial timeout and the Dinos retook the lead. Despite some scrappy defence from the visitors, the Dinos were able to take the second set 25-20. The third set ended in the same score, giving Calgary the sweep in straight sets.
"I feel like we were battling consistency all night. We had it for stretches and then lost to for very long stretches. Thankfully we did it and found consistency at the right moments, but that's definitely what got us in trouble early in the first two sets."
The Dinos will head north to visit the newest team to enter Canada West, the MacEwan Griffins, for a doubleheader next weekend. They will host UBC, Jan 30-31 in their final regular season games.
