CALGARY – The University of Calgary Dinos women's volleyball team clinched first place in Canada West for the first time since 2005 Friday night with a 3-1 win (25-18, 25-22, 21-25, 25-22) over the Mount Royal University Cougars.

With the victory, the Dinos finish the regular season at 21-3 and will enjoy home court advantage throughout the Canada West playoffs. The road begins next week with a best-of-three quarter-final series - quite possibly against the Mount Royal Cougars - beginning Thursday night in the Jack Simpson Gym. And with four CW teams heading to the U SPORTS national championship in Quebec City, the quarter-final will double as a national qualification series.

"I'm so proud of my team," said Dinos head coach Natalie Gurnsey, who was a player on the 2005 team that went a perfect 20-0 and captured the Canada West championship. "It has been a really long road to get here. We know how competitive Canada West is, and it has taken a lot of hard work to get to the point.

"We feel very focused on achieving our goals heading into the playoffs. We had some very ambitious, specific goals - one of which was finishing first and hosting a quarter-final, and we're looking forward to taking another step. We've been ramping up to peaking for this time of year, and we're excited to get started."

The Dinos stretched their win streak to nine straight matches with a four-set win over Mount Royal, with senior right side Laura McManes leading the way with 12 kills while middle Beth Vinnell cemented her hold on the conference's hitting percentage crown with her nine kills on 16 attempts. Kate Pexman, who missed six matches earlier in the season with an injury, chipped in with 10 kills, while libero Kennedy Snape and setter Leah Shevkenek each picked up a team-leading 14 digs on the night.

The Dinos will host their quarter-final series beginning Thursday night with Game 2 set for Friday and Game 3, if necessary, next Saturday. Opponent and game times will be confirmed in the coming days.

-UC-