CALGARY – In a rare daytime matchup, the University of Calgary Dinos dropped a hard-fought battle to the rival Mount Royal Cougars in five sets (25-19, 16-25, 22-25, 25-16, 10-15) on Thursday at the Jack Simpson Gym.
The first set saw the Dinos open things up with the same energy they showed last weekend during a sweep of the Brandon Bobcats, hitting .375 through the set. The Dinos took a commanding lead at 18-11 and forced the Cougars to play catch-up after a slew of kills by their front line of
Hamish Hazelden,
Mac McNicol and
Liam Kuppe. The Dinos kept their energy high as they closed out the first set 25-19.
Eager to make up for the first set, the Cougars collected 16 kills during the second set, compared to eight by the Dinos. Mount Royal took the set 25-16 and carried that momentum into the third. After the Dinos took an 11-7 lead in the third set, the Cougars responded with a late run to take a 2-1 lead in the match. Mount Royal posted a five-point run to take the lead and close out the set 25-22 with fifth-year Aussie Trent Mounter earning seven kills in the set.
In the do or die fourth set it was the Dinos who took the lead once again to go up early as they put together a 12-6 lead over the Cougars. The Dinos continued to put on a masterclass through the fourth set, hitting .462, thanks to McNicol and Hazelden who offered up four kills apiece, and
Tomas Sorra who offered up two service aces in three points. The Dinos closed out the fourth set 25-16 to force a fifth.
With both teams hungry for a win it was the Cougars who took command early in the set. With the Cougars leaning heavily on Mounter, who offered up four of Mount Royal's nine kills in the set, it was the away team who came out on top.
"It was a little rough. We passed pretty poorly in a couple sets and I think that is a major reason why we lost," noted fifth-year middle
Mitchell Higgin on the team's performance. "Our passing and service pressure, we showed it today - that we can serve the ball aggressively and have a system. We just weren't able to put it all together."
Hazelden finished the afternoon with 17 kills to lead Calgary, while fellow Aussie Mounter totalled a game-high 23 kills for Mount Royal.
The Dinos will be back in action again Friday in a rematch against the Cougars at 7:30 p.m. at Jack Simpson Gym.
