CALGARY – Fueled by a close loss in the previous night's matchup, the University of Calgary Dinos came out with a vengeance on Kenyon Court Saturday night against the Mount Royal University Cougars. Once the Dinos caught their momentum they didn't let off the gas, defeating the Cougars, 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-30).

Both teams move to 1-1 on the young season after splitting the season-opening series.

A back-and-forth opening set, the Dinos were the first to create separation after back-to-back kills by Mya Sheridan and Sophie Reed to go up 19-16 and force an MRU timeout. Following an ace by Reed and a solo block by Sheridan, Calgary had six set points at 24-18. The defending national runners-up wouldn't go away quietly, but the Dinos finally finished things off on an emphatic kill by Sammi Boag.

In the second, the Cougars were the ones to go ahead with a 19-12 edge. But the Dinos showed incredible resilience, rattling off five in a row to cut the gap to 19-17. After MRU made it a 21-18 game, Calgary pounced on a number of errors and another block by Reed and Sheridan made it set point at 24-21 before Reed found the floor for the winner and the 2-0 lead.

The Dinos never trailed in the third after quickly jumping out to a 3-1 lead on an early kill by Daisy Olsen. They would steadily hold a three-point edge over their city rivals all set and stretched the advantage to 22-16 after an ace by Carolyn Berze. Calgary once again turned to Reed to close things out and the second year didn't disappoint with another of her game-high 10 kills to close this one out.

Up next the Cougars travel to the UBC-Okanagan to take on the Heat next weekend, starting Friday. Meanwhile, the Dinos have their home opener when they welcome the Regina Cougars to the Jack Simpson Gym, Friday and Saturday. All the action will be live on Canada West TV. 

-UC-