CALGARY – The No. 4 University of Calgary Dinos defeated the MacEwan Griffins in straight sets (25-22, 28-26, 25-21) on Friday night at Jack Simpson Gym.
 
The Dinos now improve to 14-3, while the Griffins drop to 1-13.
 
For the Dinos, Connor Frehlich recorded a game-high 14 kills in the match and added three blocks. Curtis Stockton added 13 more kills for Calgary. Setter Jackson Maris also had a solid night with 32 assists and a team-high seven digs.
 
"I thought Connor did a very good job leading out there," said Dinos head coach Rod Durrant. "He did a good job attacking and saw the block really well. He was very effective at the net tonight."
 
The Griffins were lead by Shane Kerrison, Max Vriend, and Ryan McDonald who all recorded 10 kills. Setter Matt Mohler recorded a game-high 34 assists and team-high six digs.
 
The Dinos took an early 6-1 lead to start the match and despite the Griffins getting within two, the Dinos held down the lead to the technical timeout. The timeout did the Griffins some good as they found a way to string together some points to tie the game up at 16. Still tied at 20, the Dinos' offence got going at the perfect time as they went on to win it 25-22.
 
In the second, it was the opposite start for the teams as the Griffins went up 6-1 early on with MacEwan exploiting the Dinos' block. The set didn't get close until 14 all after a sneaky serve from Frehlich that rolled until the middle of the court. With nothing working on defence for Calgary, the Dinos allowed the Griffins to regain their five-point lead, forcing Durrant to call a timeout. After the timeout, Keith West entered the game and made a difference immediately. Slowly gaining ground, the Dinos tied the game up at 24 with a huge kill from West on the outside. Tied all the way up until 26, it was the Dinos that came out victorious thanks to a kill from Stockton.
 
"I thought we showed a lot of resilience in the second set. The guys struggled on the serve receive, but MacEwan did a good job serving. We didn't pass the ball very well until about half way through that set so to battle back from where we were and to win that second set, I thought that was a great character builder for our guys."
 
In the third, the teams came out evenly matched, trading points up until 12. From there, it was the Dinos who dominated to the technical timeout, going up 16-12. The Dinos continued to build their lead throughout the set and despite a late surge from the Griffins, they completed the sweep with a 25-21 third set win.
 
The Dinos and the Griffins will rematch tomorrow night at 530pm.