CALGARY – For the second straight year, the Canada West women's volleyball championship goes through Calgary – and the Dinos will host the Trinity Western Spartans for the Canada West banner Friday night.

First serve is set for 6 p.m. Friday at SAIT's Campus Centre Gymnasium, due to ongoing bleacher replacement work in the Jack Simpson Gym. Fans are encouraged to take public transit to the game, with the gym immediately adjacent to the SAIT/ACAD/Jubilee station on the LRT's Red Line – just three stops south of the University of Calgary.

The one-match, winner-take-all final has the Dinos looking to go back-to-back for the first time since 2001 and 2002, and for their ninth Canada West championship overall. The Spartans are two-time CW champions, winning the banner in both 2015 and 2016.

LAST WEEK
The Dinos kept their momentum going after defeating the UBC Thunderbirds twice in the semifinal. The Spartans battled Alberta and also left the series victorious. The Dinos and the Spartans haven't faced each other since December when Trinity Western took the best of the Dinos and won both ends of their weekend doubleheader in Langley, B.C. The two teams finished tied atop the CW standings with identical 19-5 records, but the Dinos won the right to host the final based on a superior sets won/lost ratio.

KENNEDY SNAPE FOR THE KILL
Calgary's Kennedy Snape picked up the first kill in her career against UBC last week with a dig that sailed over the net and landed on UBC's side. Snape's kill was considered the play of the match, and the Dinos' libero also performed 14 digs in the contest.

PLAYERS TO WATCH
Trinity Western's Mikaelyn Sych ranks in Canada West as number one in blocks per set with 1.33, she also stands in second place regarding hitting percentage with .379, while Calgary's Beth Vinnell is number one with a .382 hitting percentage. 

QUOTABLE
"I think that we've grown a lot as a team throughout the season," said Dinos Head Coach Natalie Gurnsey. "We've been working on peaking for this time of year and learning how to deal with pressure. I think we've become more resilient since the last time we played [TWU}, and as a team we're in a much better place. There's that feeling of dissatisfaction from the last time we played them and didn't finish what we started, we get another shot at them to show ourselves more than anyone else that we're capable of beating them.

"Every point that we get to play with this group helps us prepare for that national championship - we become more unified, we get a better understanding of each person's role, and having the chance to do that in a competition setting is invaluable."

NEWS
The Spartans hit the road for the first time in three weeks having their last loss being against Manitoba at home in Langley, B.C. Trinity Western has qualified for the U SPORTS women's volleyball championship March 15-18 at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

SCOUTING REPORT
vs TRINITY WESTERN SPARTANS
Match Info Friday, March 8 at 6 p.m. – Southern Alberta Institute of Technology
2018-19 Record 19-5, 2nd in Canada West
Players to Watch Hilary Howe (3.24kills/set), Brie O'Reilly (9.22 assists/set)


UP NEXT
After the conference winner is decided, both teams will join UBC and host Alberta as Canada West reps at the U SPORTS national championship March 15-17 at the Saville Community Sports Centre in Edmonton.