CALGARY – Fifth-year senior
Mitchell Higgin was unstoppable in the penultimate home match of his career as the University of Calgary Dinos pulled out an efficient 3-0 win (25-16, 25-16, 25-14) over the UBC Okanagan Heat Friday night in the Jack Simpson Gym.
Higgin recorded 11 kills on 12 swings from his middle position, hitting at a nearly 92 per cent clip to lift the Dinos to 12-9 on the season with one match remaining. The Heat fall to 2-19 on the year and will play out the string Saturday afternoon.
All three sets Friday followed a similar pattern, with the teams closely matched for the first half before the Dinos found another gear around the 13-point mark and pulled away. As a team Calgary hit an impressive 45.1 per cent on the contest, while holding the Heat to just 11.5.
"To be honest, it's just about us playing our best volleyball," said Higgin. "It's that time of the season where every team needs to be playing their best. I think every weekend we've been showing that we're getting better and better, and now it's coming all together. I feel like we're prepared, for tomorrow first, but then for the first round of the playoffs next week."
For UBCO, Max Heppell and Cam Vanderveen had nearly identical stat lines, picking up eight kills against eight errors apiece. Matt Aubrey accounted for five more kills.
In addition to Higgin's 11 kills,
Liam Kuppe had a big night with nine, while
Hamish Hazelden added eight and
Mac McNicol five. Calgary out-blocked UBCO by an 8-1 margin, and setter Tom Sorra was outstanding in directing the Calgary offence.
"There was quite a bit of room in the pot, and Tom was giving me a lot of good sets," said Higgin. "But yeah, that's a lot of volume for a middle in a three-set match."
The Dinos will celebrate Higgin, McNicol, and
Juan Becerra in a pre-game ceremony Saturday afternoon before the regular season finale against the Heat. First serve is set for 3:30 p.m. MT, live on CanadaWest.tv presented by Co-op.
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