EDMONTON – When it came to late-set points on Friday night in the David Atkinson Gym, it was as if there were gremlins on the MacEwan Griffins sidelines.

Darned if the men's volleyball match against the University of Calgary Dinos didn't follow the same script as the women's before it. The sets were close until late when the majority of the important points went the visitors' way.

Just as the Dinos women triumphed 3-0 a little over an hour earlier, the Dinos men also earned a straight-sets win (25-22, 25-20, 25-21).

With the win, the Dinos improve to 9-8 in the standings, solidifying their hold on a playoff spot. The Griffins fall to 3-14.

"I thought our group really focused and I thought we did a good job," said Calgary head coach Rod Durrant of clutch play late in sets. "Grant MacEwan's a pretty solid team. Their record doesn't indicate that.

"I thought both teams were even up until 16 and then we did a couple of good things and played some good defence. I thought we served pretty well to help us get into those situations, as well."

Defensive hustle on the Calgary side of the court was one of the keys to the match. An early third-set point that put Calgary up 7-5 was the defining moment of that effort when two players laid out in front of the scorer's table to keep the ball alive until a hitting error on the MacEwan sidelines gave Calgary the point.

"At the end of the day, it's that time of the year," said Durrant. "If you want to be successful and you want to play good volleyball, you have to have that effort and we're pleased with it."

That effort frustrated the Griffins, who were hitting massive kills that were kept alive off the block or through inspired diving digs.

Tim Taylor led the Dinos with 12 kills on .385 efficiency, while Mitchell Higgin was dominant in the middle with nine on .533. Libero Derek Meeuwisse led the digging effort with 10 of them. Setter Blain Cranston had 34 assists.

"Timmy's playing really well for us right now," said Durrant. "He's just got to stay focused and he knows he's going to get the volume. He does a good job for us."

MacEwan had a solid two-pronged outside attack rolling as Max Vriend racked up 13 kills on .259 efficiency, while Jordan Peters hammered down 12 of them on .250. Caleb Weiss had 32 assists.

After leading 21-20 in the opening set and conceding a 5-1 run to drop it, the Griffins steamed back in Set 2, going toe-to-toe with Calgary early. Again, though, there were small periods of time when the Dinos hit the gas and the Griffins didn't respond quickly enough. They found themselves down 18-12 after an 8-3 Dinos run and could never catch up. Higgin ended it on a quick hitter in the middle.

It was more of the same in Set 3 as the Dinos broke open a close game with a mid-set run to cruise to 20 up five and they never relented, ending it when Liam Laidlaw's chip off the Griffins' block on a joust found the floor.

The teams will meet in the rematch on Saturday night (6:30 p.m., David Atkinson Gym, Canada West TV).