CALGARY – The Mount Royal Cougars outlasted the visiting University of Calgary Dinos men's volleyball team in a hard-fought three set win Saturday night from Kenyon Court.

In the second game of the doubleheader that saw the Dinos women win earlier in the night, the men's game started with two incredibly even sets that could have gone in either direction before MRU pulled away in the third for the 25-22, 31-29, 25-16 win.

The opening set went right down to the wire. But, despite the Dinos finishing with a 13-9 edge in kills, MRU was able to do just enough at the end for the tight 25-22 first-set win.

Things were much the same in the second. The Cougars held a 15-11 lead – what proved to be by far the largest of the set – early, only to see Calgary instantly respond with a kill from Zach Evans, a block from Evans and Louis Kuntsmann and an ace from Liam Kuppe to knot things right back up. Neither team could create any separation from there, with the frame going deep into extras that brought the crowd to its feet multiple times before back-to-back kills from Chris Byam gave the home team the win, 31-29.

It was all Mount Royal in the third. Jacob Van Geel had the first of his six kills in the set to make it 15-9 before his last made it set point at 24-16. A solo block by Tate Howell finished the sweep for the Cougars.

Newcomer Anders Bouck notched his first collegiate double-double with 21 assists to go with 10 digs on the night for the Dinos.

Chris Byam led the way for MRU with 17 kills while hitting .483 in the win.

The Cougars will play their next games on the road against the UBC-Okanagan Heat, while the Dinos have a week off before traveling the Trinity Western Nov. 4-5.

-UC-