CALGARY – The No. 10 University of Calgary Dinos are in need of some home cooking, and lucky for them they play all of their final six matches of the year in Calgary. The stretch drive begins this weekend as they face the No. 2-ranked Trinity Western Spartans this weekend.
DETAILS
Date: Friday, Feb. 2 and Saturday, Feb. 3
Time: 7:30 p.m. MT Friday and 5:30 p.m. MT Saturday
Venue: Jack Simpson Gymnasium
HEADLINES
- The series pits the 17-1 Spartans, winners of 13 in a row who just fell out of the No. 1 spot in the national rankings, against the 10-8 Dinos
- The Dinos have lost five of their last six and hold the final slot in the national Top 10
No. 10 CALGARY DINOS (10-8)
- The Dinos return home after two weeks on the road and will look to right the ship as they play again in the Jack, where they'll see five of their final six contests happen. The lone road tilt in that span is a quick trip down the road to Mount Royal on Saturday, Feb. 12 for the regular season finale.
- A home playoff date is still a possibility for the Dinos, who sit two games back of Brandon for that fourth and final host spot heading into the weekend. They'll need an impressive showing, however, to get back into the top four
- Alex Bader continues to lead the way offensively with his .298 hitting percentage – third-best in the conference.
- The Dinos are the top blocking team in Canada West, with 181 total stuffs – averaging nearly 2.7 per set.
No. 2 TRINITY WESTERN SPARTANS (17-1)
- To this point, the only blemish on the Spartans' season came all the way back on Nov. 10 when they dropped a five-setter at Brandon. Since then, they've reeled off 13 straight victories, losing just six sets during that time
- Eric Loeppky is the CW leader in kills (4.15/set) an dhitting percentage (.371), while Jacob Kern (198) and Jesse Elser (118) each have triple-digit kills on the season as well
- The Spartans are locked in a tight race with UBC (16-2), which overtook them in the national rankings this week, for first place.
-UC-
