CALGARY – The No. 4 University of Calgary Dinos won a hard-fought marathon match on Friday night when they hosted the No. 10 Trinity Western Spartans.
The five-set win (25-23, 22-25, 25-19, 31-33, 15-12) improves the Dinos to 12-3 on the season while the Spartans drop to 8-7.
For the Spartans, Blake Scheerhoorn was unstoppable with a game-high 23 kills, followed by another 22 from Ryan Sclater. Setter Devyn Plett added a game-high 57 assists in the effort.
The well-matched teams found themselves tied up deep into every set, with just one or two points separating them at every technical timeout. In the first, a big ace from West allowed the Dinos to catch up to the Spartans at 21 and they went on to win it 25-23 with a hitting error on the Spartans' side.
Tied up until 18 throughout the second, it was the Spartans that got the set back and tied the match up at one with a 25-22 win.
With a rough start for the Dinos in the third, head coach Rod Durrant was forced to call a timeout at 5-1. The timeout proved to work as the Dinos found a way to tie the set up at 10. Going up 16-14 at the technical, a huge serving run, once again from West, gave the Dinos a six-point lead. A kill from Frehlich solidified the third set win at 25-19. In the fourth with Trinity Western needing the win to stay alive in the match, a serving run from Sclater helped the Spartans regain some ground to tie it up at 17. From there, the teams traded points through to extras up until 31. Two big hits from the Spartans kept them alive for the remaining two points, forcing a fifth and final set.
Despite the fourth set loss, the Dinos came out on fire, going up 5-3 early and adding to that lead at the switch. Holding down a four-point lead, West's serves proved to be trouble for the Spartans' passing game again. The Dinos went on to win the set 15-12 on an error by Trinity Western.
The two teams will rematch tomorrow night at 5:30pm in the Jack.
