EDMONTON – Two of the hardest hitting southpaws you'll see in the university ranks went toe to toe like a pair of prized fighters on Friday night.

MacEwan's Lee Iverson rained down a game-high 27 kills as his counterpart Curtis Stockton on the University of Calgary Dinos blasted away for 20 of his own.

"We had a couple times it was right side to right side and that's fun," said Iverson, who was trading heavy hits with Stockton on opposite corners of the court. "The few lefties in the league can play around."

In the end, Calgary had just a smidgeon more when it counted most as they squeaked out a 3-1 (32-30, 27-25, 23-25, 25-21) victory in Canada West men's volleyball action.
The first set, especially, was a barn-burning volleyball gem as the teams traded long rallies and massive smashes off of blocks. It ended in the 30s when MacEwan's Kai Hesthammer was blocked at the net.

"They just made a few more plays, especially in the first two sets," said Griffins head coach Brad Poplawski. "The teams battled pretty even, but they just found a way to make a play at a key time, whether it was a good slow-down block or a dig at a key time.

"They managed to make two more plays than us in the first two sets. That changes the complexion of a game 100 per cent."

Indeed, Calgary was also more clutch in Set #2 with Parker Siroishka's big kill putting the game away on the 27^th point.

"I think both teams battled really hard on the defensive end and they dug a lot of balls that put us in tough situation," said Dinos head coach Rod Durrant. "I was very pleased we were able to handle those situations at the end of sets."

The Dinos, trying to hunt down the final playoff berth in Canada West, moved to 6-7 on the season. Durrant noted they're not always this clutch.

"We're working on it," he said. "Every team wants to be clutch when it gets into the 20s. It's a work in progress and we're very pleased with the outcome tonight."

While MacEwan falls to 2-11 on the campaign, there are many positives to hang their hats on. Statistically, Iverson just produced the biggest game by anyone on the Griffins this season, his 27 kills coming on a .333 hitting percentage.

"It's outstanding. It's unbelievable the way he played tonight," said Poplawski.

"It's not an accident he played that way. It's the work he puts in in the gym," he added. 

"I talked to our young guys already about it – 'I hope you guys are seeing something because you guys are the same size Lee was when he came in first year and this is happening by design.'

"It wasn't an accident he's having this success. It's the work he put in off-court and it's really awesome he got a chance to show it tonight."

Hesthammer chipped in 18 kills for the Griffins, but they didn't really get enough from their depth players. It also didn't help that middle star Max Vriend played sparingly because he was sick.

Calgary, on the other hand, spread out its attack with Alex Bader notching 18 kills and Liam Laidlaw recording 11.

"That's what I love about sports is that every day's a new day," said Poplawski, who will get a second crack at the Dinos on Saturday (6:30 p.m., City Centre Campus gym). "We did some things very well tonight.

"You could tell there was a little bit of rust in how to compete properly," he added after the team's first Canada West regular season game since Dec. 3. "You can train all you want, but I still think the emotions in an actual match where it's real (are different). There's some things like that I'm hoping tomorrow we can do better. There's some things we have to make happen tomorrow."

Iverson is aiming for a turn of fortune on Saturday.

"They're known to be a very consistent team, so limiting our errors personally can really do us a (favour) – running a bit more middle, getting our serves in, especially late in the game," he said.

"We kind of know more about them. Saturday's a new day. We can come out firing. We do have a chance. We're battling really well against them. It could easily go the other way."