CALGARY – Hamish Hazelden pounded 21 kills Saturday night to lead his University of Calgary Dinos to a weekend sweep of No. 3-ranked Brandon in a four-setter (28-26, 25-21, 18-25, 25-19) Saturday night in the Jack Simpson Gym.
The Dinos improve to 8-6 with the victory and slide into sixth place in the Canada West standings, while Brandon falls to 11-5.
It's Calgary's first sweep of Brandon since a 3-1, 3-0 weekend back in October 2015, also in the Jack Simpson Gym.
After falling to the Dinos Friday, the Bobcats came out strong to go up early in the first set. With the Bobcats energy high, fifth-year
Mac McNicol helped the Dinos crawl back from their deficit with his serving reign of terror. McNicol offered up two aces in a row to close out the long set for the Dinos, 28-26.
After losing a close first set it was the Bobcats who went up early to lead the Dinos 4-1 in the second. With the Dinos once again crawling back from a deficit it was the home team who put pressure on the visitors through the teens to take the lead. Hazelden offered the final blow against the Bobcats in set two to see the home team with the advantage heading into set three.
In dire need of a swing of a momentum, Brandon took control in the third set thanks to senior Elliott Viles, who offered up nine kills in the frame as Brandon earned a 25-18 victory to send the match to a fourth.
"He really overpowered us in the third set, and we couldn't really come back from that," said Calgary setter Tom Sorra of Viles' performance in the third.
Much like the first two sets, the Dinos went up 11-3 to start the fourth. With the Dinos ahead by a large margin, the Bobcats crawled back to cut the Calgary lead to one point. With the surging Bobcats working hard to top the Dinos, it was the home team who came out on top 25-19 to sweep the Bobcats on the weekend.
"We knew that they were going to come out better (after last night)," said Sorra. "We didn't really know what their lineup was going to be like, we assumed they were going to change it."
Fourth-year outside hitter Hazelden led the Dinos tonight with 21 kills to finish off the weekend 38 kills against the Bobcats. On the Bobcats side it was fellow Australian Elliott Viles who posted a team high 27 kills on 57 swings, exactly half of the total attacks taken by Brandon on the night.
The Dinos will be back in action next week in the Jack Simpson Gym for the annual Crowchild Classic as they host the Mount Royal Cougars on Jan. 23-24 at 12:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., respectively. The Bobcats are back on the road next weekend as the travel to Langley, B.C. to face the top ranked Trinity Western University Spartans.
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