CALGARY – The No. 3 University of Calgary Dinos men's volleyball team closed out their regular season with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-23) win over the No. 4 Manitoba Bisons.
 
The Dinos finished third in the conference with an 18-6 record, while the Bisons finished just ahead in second at 19-6. The top ten teams will now head into the post season next weekend.
 
Curtis Stockton had a great night for the Dinos, recording a game-high 14 kills and seven digs. Outside hitter Connor Frehlich also played well for Calgary with 12 kills on the night. Setter Jackson Maris added 31 assists.
 
For the Bisons, Scott Vercaigne recorded 14 kills while setter Luke Herr added 27 assists.
 
"It was important for us to get a split. Manitoba's a very good team. I thought we played okay last night and tonight we did a very good job of just finishing sets when we had the opportunity. It's all about building up to next weekend with the quarterfinals at home and we know we have a great team coming in here to play and we have to be at our best. We're excited about that opportunity and we're looking forward to next weekend."
 
In the first set, the quickly came out on top with a 9-5 lead and extended it to five at the technical timeout. It was smooth sailing from there, forcing the Bisons to call a timeout to no avail and the Dinos easily took the first 25-18. Frehlich had recorded a team-high five kills.
 
The Bisons put up a fight in the following set, taking an early 10-6 lead when capitalizing on some sloppy defence by the Dinos. Their lead didn't last long though, as the Dinos found a way to tie the game up at 15. Going point for point, both teams continued to be tied up at 22. A heads up play by Alex Cook on game point gave the Dinos the 25-23 second set win.
 
In the third, the evenly matched teams found themselves all tied up at 13 with the Dinos sneaking in two kills before the technical timeout to go up 16-14. Extending the lead to four, the Bisons were forced to call a timeout. They were able to wear the Dinos down to a one-point lead and eventually tied the game at 22. It was a huge kill from Stockton that would put the nail in the coffin and solidify the match win at 25-23.
 
The Dinos celebrated seniors Frehlich, Maris, Ivan Kartev and Brendan Visser at the beginning of their final regular season game at home.
 
"The contributions of the seniors we celebrated tonight has been tremendous. We have four of them that put in 19 combined years with this program and they've represented our program extremely well."
 
With a third-place finish, the Dinos will host the Trinity Western Spartans next weekend on Feb. 26 at 7pm and Feb. 27 at 6pm. Should the two teams split the first two games, a third and final deciding game will be played on Sunday at 2pm.