CALGARY – Chris Byam was credited with a game-high 11 kills to lead the Mount Royal University Cougars to a 3-0 win over the University of Calgary Dinos men's volleyball team Friday evening from Kenyon Court.

The game was the season opener for both squads.

MRU started the game strong in front of a vocal home crowd to quickly jump out to leads of 6-2 and 10-4. But, the Dinos proved they were up for the challenge, bouncing back and reclaiming the lead at 16-15 after a kill by Louis Kuntsmann. The two rivals would go back-and-forth from there with little separation until the end, where MRU was able to finish on a 3-1 run that was capped on a kill from Jacob Van Geel to claim the very tight opener, 25-22.

The second set continued where the first left off with both teams trading points. The Cougars were able to grab a lead with a run midway through to jump ahead, 17-12. Calgary continued to try to chisel away at the lead with two emphatic kills from Liam Kuppe but they would get no closer to fall, 25-18.

With a 2-0 edge and the crowd at their backs, Mount Royal used that momentum to jump out to an early lead in the third and would not look back in completing the sweep.

The two teams are right back at in Saturday in another Crowchild Classic doubleheader. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m., directly following the women's match.

-UC-