CALGARY – The University of Calgary Dinos put up another solid effort Friday night but fell in straight sets to Trinity Western in the Jack Simpson Gym (25-22, 25-21, 25-21).
TWU improves to 11-1 on the campaign as the league takes a break for exams and the holidays, while the Dinos fall to 2-10.
After Thursday night's five-set epic, which the Spartans took 15-13 in the deciding frame, the two teams played another tightly-contested battle Friday – but on the strength of a slightly better hitting percentage and a 6-1 advantage on aces from the service line, TWU picked up the straight-sets win.
It was Calgary that opened up the lead to start, enjoying an advantage of up to five points throughout most of the opener – until the Spartans managed to tie it at 21-21. A couple of Dinos errors and a kill from Ansah Odoom put the Spartans in set point, and Avery Heppel's ace ended it 25-22 in the visitors' favour.
It was TWU's turn to jump out to an early lead in the second set, going up 6-1 right out of the chute. Calgary pulled back and was able to close within a point, but the Spartans fended the Dinos off and Hilary Howe posted one of her 12 kills on the night to end the second 25-21. In the third, a 6-0 Trinity Western run midway through the frame turned a 13-11 Calgary lead into a 17-13 Spartans advantage, and the visitors never looked back from there.
Howe and Odoom put up 12 kills each for the Spartans, with Heppell adding seven and MIkaelyn Sych chipping in with six. Dora Komlodi and Savannah Purdy each contributed a pair of aces to the Spartans' cause, with Emma Gamache leading the way defensively with 13 digs.
For the Dinos, rookie
Trinity Solecki paced the offence with a match-high 14 kills, joined in double digits by
Beth Vinnell with 10. Solecki added eight digs, five back of libero
Kennedy Snape, while the trio of Vinnell,
Autumn Davidson, and
Adriel Goodman each put up three blocks on the night.
Despite their 2-10 record, the Dinos feel like they've turned around and head into the lengthy break with some confidence.
"Last weekend (at Regina) was a good step for us, and we did a good job of carrying it into this weekend," said Vinnell. "Tonight wasn't as good as yesterday, but we're still moving in the right direction. Our passing was good tonight, but serving…last night we were really aggressive and today we didn't bring as much on the serve game."
The two teams will return to action in 2020. Calgary will open first as the Dinos head to Winnipeg Jan. 3-4 to take on the Manitoba Bisons before welcoming Brandon Jan. 17-18 to the Jack Simpson Gym. The Spartans return to Canada West play Jan. 10-11 as they play host to the Mount Royal Cougars.
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