CALGARY – The University of Calgary Dinos men's volleyball team used their home-court advantage to defeat the Fraser Valley Cascades 3-1 (25-18, 25-15, 20-25, 28-26) Friday at the Jack Simpson Gym.
It was Calgary's first home game since Oct. 18. After a tough six-game road stretch, the Dinos returned to the win column and improved their record to 3-6. Fraser Valley dropped to 0-9.
"We are going to carry the momentum of our win today into tomorrow's game, bring the energy, and fix some of the stuff that could've been better," said veteran outside hitter
Erik Godwin.
In a tightly contested first set, it was Cascade errors that proved to be the difference. Calgary hit .370, compared to -.080 by Fraser Valley. The Dinos earned a five-point lead and forced a Cascades timeout at 20-15, while kills from
Will Kay, Godwin, and
Cole Czepuryk helped close it out.
Calgary hot hitting continued in the second set at a nearly identical .368 rate. The Dinos pulled away from the Cascades with a pair of 6-1 runs that eventually put the home team ahead by eight. Rookie
Jackson Vandersteen wrapped up the set with a service ace to give the Dinos the two set advantage.
The Dinos appeared on their way to a quick evening until the Cascades awoke midway through the third set. Their best stretch of play on Friday saw them take a 11-9 Calgary lead. The Dinos were unable to recover, and the Cascades pushed the game into a fourth set.
The teams trades blows in a compelling fourth set. Calgary held the largest led of three in the set at 10-7, but the score was quickly brought even and remained that way until the final moments. With the score at 24-24, the Dinos received clutch kills from
Will Kay and
Matthew Brown to remain undefeated at The Jack.
Godwin led Calgary with 16 kills on .333 hitting and added six digs. Kay and Czepuryk contributed 10 and eight kills, respectively, while
Luke Nodwell recorded four total blocks. Fraser Valley's Hudson Brandsma and Roan McCarthy had strong outings, tallying 15 and 14 kills.
The Dinos and Cascades meet again Saturday at 5:45 p.m. in the Jack Simpson Gym.
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