Dinos stay hot in Block Party win

CALGARY – After dropping the opening set, the University of Calgary Dinos rallied for a 3-1 win Friday night in front of a frenzied home crowd on Block Night.

With the win, the eighth-ranked Dinos improve to 8-3 on the season, while Thompson Rivers falls to 5-6.

TRU came out strong in the opening frame, executing their game plan well in claiming the first set. A 7-1 run by the WolfPack created the first separation of the night for a 14-8 edge midway through before three consecutive service aces made it 21-12 for the visitors en route to the convicing first-set win.

Things continued the same way in the start of the second, with TRU jumping out to an early 7-3 advantage. The Dinos made some adjustments to their lineup and saw instant success, going back ahead 9-8 to inject life back into their bench and into the home crowd. Things went back-and-forth the rest of the way in what proved to be the pivotal set. Calgary trailed 24-23, but was able to get kill sfrom Sheridan Coninx and Daisy Olsen before an Evelyn Kath ace sealed the comeback and knotted things up at one set apiece.

From there it was all Dinos.

Calgary’s defence held TRU to just three kills in the third set as they held the WolfPack to hit negative for the frame in a lopsided win to go ahead 2-1.

In the fourth, it was the offence that proved to be the story, as the Dinos hit an impressive .400 and closed things out with block by Coninx and Olsen to cap the Block Party win.

“I was happy with how we built throughout the match,” Dinos head coach Christine Biggs said after the win. “Some areas we’ve been working a lot on were a bit shaky to begin with and then I think as new skills do, they stabilized as we got more comfortable, so I was happy to see we made the adjustments. There’s a lot of opportunity for us to make our own adjustments.”

The two teams are right back at it Saturday, with the final game of the semester for both squads scheduled for a 6 p.m. first serve from the Jack Simpson Gym.

-UC-