CALGARY – The Dinos women's volleyball team makes its second of at least three consecutive trips to the U SPORTS national championship this weekend as the No. 3 seed in a familiar venue, Edmonton's Saville Community Sports Centre.

Action gets underway Friday with the four championship quarter-finals, with the Dinos playing the sixth-seeded, defending national champion Ryerson Rams in the nightcap scheduled to get underway at 8 p.m. MT. USPORTS.live will have exclusive streaming coverage of the tournament.

After putting up a 19-5 record to take first place in the Canada West regular season standings, the Dinos finished 4-1 in the conference playoffs, bringing home the silver medal. And they head into nationals with a depleted lineup.

After returning All-Canadian Kate Pexman went down with a knee injury in the final match of the regular season, Hannah Tanasichuk stepped up to take Pexman's volume through the postseason until she, too, succumbed to a season-ending injury in the Canada West championship match against Trinity Western. With injury comes opportunity, though, and head coach Natalie Gurnsey sees plenty for her team as they head back to nationals.

"We've been talking a lot about playing the best volleyball that we can as a group, and each individual taking care of their personal responsibilities," said Gurnsey, who is heading to her first national championship as a coach after missing the 2018 event due to the birth of her son, Levi. "That's really been the message throughout the entire season, no matter who was on the floor, and now it's just different people who have to rise to that challenge.

"This is my eighth season, and we've worked for many years to build the program back to the place where we're competitive year after year, and we have a chance to be successful this weekend if we play the best volleyball we can."

The Dinos still boast a formidable line up led by fifth-year senior setter Leah Shevkenek along with All-Canadian middle Beth Vinnell. Libero Kennedy Snape, outside hitter Adriel Goodman, and outside hitter Rachel Solecki are all veterans with loads of U SPORTS experience looking to make their mark at the national tournament.

The match-up with Ryerson is a rematch of last year's national semifinal in Quebec City, which the Rams won in three sets of the top-seeded Dinos. It will be the second all-time meeting between the two programs at the U SPORTS tournament, with the winner set to take on the winner of the No. 2 Toronto vs No. 7 Alberta quarter-final on Saturday. The other side of the draw sees top-seeded Trinity Western face No. 8 UBC while No. 4 Dalhousie faces No. 5 Montreal.

The Dinos are seeking their fifth national women's volleyball banner after previous wins in 1970, 1989, 1994, and 2004.

Calgary will host the 2020 U SPORTS Women's Volleyball Championship in the Jack Simpson Gym next year.