LANGLEY, B.C. – The University of Calgary Dinos fell in straight sets (25-19, 25-15, 25-23) to the top-ranked Trinity Western University Spartans Friday night to open their final weekend of conference play in 2018 at the Langley Events Centre.

Hitting .379 as a team, the Spartans cruised to a three-set win, improving their season record to 8-1. The loss drops Calgary to 3-6 on the year.

TWU's Jacob Kern finished the night hitting .438 to go with three aces and 19 kills, while Eric Loeppky hit .611 with a dozen kills. Derek Epp had 39 assists.

Calgary's Liam Laidlaw led the Dinos with six kills, while hitting .545 and earning two blocks. Blain Cranston had 16 assists for a Calgary team that hit .086.

TWU was quick out of the gate in the first set, opening a 5-1 lead and never looking back. The Spartans pushed their lead to 16-7 at the technical timeout and, while hitting .370 over the set, cruised to a six-point win. Kern had a team-high five kills in the set, while Mitchell Higgin had three kills for Calgary, who hit .143.

The second set saw TWU pull away early again, using a 4-0 run to take a 12-7 lead and force Calgary into a timeout. Improving their hitting percentage to .379 while holding the Dinos to .000, TWU pulled away down the stretch, winning by 10 points. Kern had seven more kills in the set and was hitting .526 through the first two sets.

Calgary took a 9-5 lead in the third set, after a Liam Kuppe kill. The Spartans crawled back into the set, taking a 17-16 lead before Calgary retook the lead and went ahead 20-18. TWU rallied to tie the game 22-22 and then Kern earned a kill on three of the last four points of the match to send the Spartans to the victory.

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