CALGARY – The Dinos men's volleyball team earned a 3-1 victory over the UBCO Heat on Saturday at the Jack Simpson Gymnasium (27-25, 25-20, 19-25, 25-19).

With a home sweep of the Heat this weekend, the Dinos now sit second in Canada West with an 8-2 record. The Heat remain winless since mid-September, with a 1-6 record.

After a long-drawn-out five-setter in their first match of the weekend, the Dinos finished off the Heat in four sets on Saturday. A strong come-from-behind finish in the fourth set catapulted the Dinos to victory.

Head coach Rod Durrant credited his team's win with a better defensive display.

"We played better defense tonight, our block was definitely better," said Durrant. "I thought the team stayed together and the energy was what we hoped it would be. We had guys step in and do a really good job."

Outside-hitter Connor Frehlich led the match in kills, scoring 17 of the Dinos' 53.

"It was a strong attacking game for me, which says a lot about the passing," said Frehlich. "Tonight was a big difference [from last night]. We came out strong and played well as a team."

Other strong performers for the Dinos were setter Jackson Maris, who finished with 39 assists, and libero Derek Meeuwisse, who managed 14 digs. For the Heat, Adam Kern earned a game-high 10 blocks and Leo Schober had nine kills.

It was the Heat who started the first set positively, pulling ahead 7-3 with some strong blocking play. The Dinos came back into it with a five-point run that brought the score to 8-7.

The teams traded points back and forth for the rest of the first set. The home side's solid hitting play was canceled out by their over-hit serves, which gifted the Heat some points.

With the score at 24-22 for the Heat, the Dinos won some crucial rallies, keeping in it and eventually taking set one with a score of 27-25.

The second set started out evenly, with the score tied at 3-3, 7-7 and 9-9. Setter Alex Cook managed three consecutive kills to pull the Dinos ahead, and they didn't give up the lead for the rest of it. The Dinos ended up taking the set comfortably, 25-20.

Not giving up without a fight, the Heat picked up their performance in the third set, pulling ahead 12-8 and causing The Dinos to call a time-out.  

"We made too many hitting errors in the third set, and they did a good job of blocking. It wasn't our best set," said Durrant.

The Heat continued to lead for the rest of the set, taking it 25-21. Right-side Kyle Pankratz was the set's best performer, registering a set-high six kills for the visitors.

Like the third, the fourth set started with the Heat pulling ahead and playing well, leading 4-3, 10-6 and 15-12. It was looking like the match could repeat Friay's five-setter.

But the Dinos pulled it together to go on a seven-point run, with Frehlich putting up some ferocious kills. Panicking, the Heat called multiple time-outs throughout the set.

"Well, we lost that third set and then decided to just really leave everything out on the floor [in the fourth]. We did that and finished really well as a team," said Frehlich.

The Dinos finished the game at their best, winning 13 of the last 17 rallies. Outside-hitter Calvin Siebert won the last point for the Dinos with a powerful cross-court strike, making the score 25-19.

"We had a little set back in the third but then we rebounded pretty well in the fourth set," said Durrant.

The Dinos continue their season at home next weekend, with two matches vs. the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, while UBC Okanagan visits Brandon for a two-match set.

-UC-