CALGARY – The University of Calgary women's volleyball earned a hard-fought first place in Canada West rankings (regular season), and will face eight-seeded Mount Royal University in the conference quarterfinals on Thursday, Feb. 22 through Saturday, Feb. 24 at Jack Simpson Gymnasium. First serve is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Friday, and the series can be viewed live on CanadaWest.tv.

Thursday's game will be the Dinos third matchup of the year against the Cougars; last time out, Calgary swept its conference foe in a two-match weekend, 3-2 (25-13, 21-25, 25-19, 21-25, 15-10) on Thursday, and 3-1 (25-18, 25-22, 21-25, 25-22) on Friday. Currently, Calgary ranks second overall in both hitting percentage (.224) and blocks (242), while two players of the team are individual leaders of the Canada West regular season stats. Kate Pexman leads the conference in kills per set (3.90), while Beth Vinnell bests the competition in hitting percentage (.443).

With Friday's match-up, Laura McManes posted an impressive 12 kills to lead the Dinos attack, while Pexman and Vinnell contributed 10 kills and nine kills, respectively. Leah Shevkenek dished an efficient 35 assists, helping Calgary to a .146 hitting percentage for the match. 

Defensively, both Shevkenek and Kennedy Snape proved to be assets, recording 14 digs each, while Amber Adolf followed close with 11 digs. At the net, Jaylynn Moffatt and McManes demonstrated why Calgary has been able to continue their unbeaten streak through conference play, notching four and three block assists, respectively. 

Despite a comeback in the third set to unsettle the rival, Mount Royal was unable to upset Calgary on Friday. Alex Donaghy recorded 10 kills to lead the Cougars' attack, while Chantel Park and Anna Carlson posted nine kills apiece. Allisa Dandenault added 17 helpers to the Mount Royal offense and a service ace, while Quinn Pelland tallied 16 assists. Five Cougars tallied five or more digs during the contest: Cassidy Kitchen (7), Park (8), Donaghy (14), Nataliia Klimenova (20), and Pelland (5).

DETAILS
Canada West Quarter-final (best-of-three)
Date: Thursday, Feb. 22 through Saturday, Feb. 24 (if necessary)
Time: 5:30 p.m. MT Thursday and Friday; 4 p.m. Saturday (if necessary)
Venue: Jack Simpson Gym, University of Calgary

HEADLINES

• Second straight meeting between the Calgary rivals after the Dinos swept the Cougars to end the regular season last week
• First-ever playoff meeting between the two teams. The Dinos hold a 9-3 overall record against MRU since the Cougars joined the league in 2012
• Winner of the series advances to the U SPORTS national championship in Quebec City

No. 2 CALGARY DINOS (21-3)

• The Dinos finished first in CW for the first time since 2004-05 and own home court advantage throughout the playoffs
• Calgary landed the No. 2 national ranking this week
• Kate Pexman led the conference in kills at 3.90 per set, while also finishing sixth in hitting percentage.
• Beth Vinnell was the most accurate attacker in the league, hitting at a .443 clip – more than 10 per cent better than second place
• A win over MRU would send the Dinos to the national championship for the first time since 2009, the last of nine consecutive appearances at the tournament

MOUNT ROYAL COUGARS (11-13)

• MRU squeaked into the final playoff spot with Brandon's loss at Alberta last week
• The Cougars finished with an 11-13 record, picking up a couple of key victories – including a 3-1 triumph over Alberta on Jan. 12 and a 3-2 win at UBC Okanagan in early November
• Fifth-year Alex Donaghy is Mount Royal's offensive leader, scoring 3.58 kills per set, while also leading the team with 246 digs.
• A win would send the Cougars to their first-ever U SPORTS national championship.

-UC-