Dinos settle for split on opening weekend

CALGARY – The University of Calgary Dinos men’s volleyball team has split their opening weekend matchup following a 3-1 (11-25, 20-25, 25-21, 21-25) defeat to the Manitoba Bisons on Saturday at the Jack Simpson Gym.

The Bisons came out swinging early in the match with five quick points, putting the Dinos on their heels immediately. The five-point difference remained consistent throughout the set as the Bisons’ attack posted a .409 hitting percentage in the first and eventually built a 10-point lead. Luke Nodwell put together a couple of good sequences for the Dinos, but it was not enough for the Dinos to overcome a large deficit.

Nodwell continued to bring the heat and opened the scoring in the second set, only for the Bisons to respond with a four-point run. The Dinos continued to push and took the lead at 15-14 thanks to a kill from Louis Kunstmann. Four consecutive points later put Manitoba back in control of the set, and they eventually finished it off with a Sammy Ludwig overpass kill.

“Those large point gaps [in the first few sets] did affect us all, and I think that’s something we need to work on, which is not letting those affect us,” explained senior Jackson Meier. ” I think we made progress there in the next two sets. It shouldn’t matter if we lost 10 or won 10 in a row; each point should be taken the same way.”

Calgary seemed to find their stride in the third set. Meier tied the game with a kill at 4-4, and from there, the Dinos maintained a slight lead through most of the set, thanks in part to a .321 hitting percentage. Late in the set, some timely blocks by Kunstmann made it difficult for the Bisons to counter as the Dinos pushed the game to a fourth set.

With the score 15-15 in a tight fourth set, Manitoba put together three straight points, capped off by a Ludwig kill and forced Calgary to take a timeout. That advantage was enough for the Bisons to hold off another Dinos comeback, with Ludwig closing out the evening with another kill.

Spencer Grahame led all Bisons with 16 kills, while Kunstmann countered with 12 for the Dinos.

“I didn’t really put them in the best opportunity to win that second set, but guys responded really well, service pressure got better, and then we just settled in,” said Dinos head coach Graham Vigrass. “We need to work on being a little more connected on our serving and offence. There’s a lot more communication and connection between different parts of our game that need to be touched upon.”

“Next weekend will be a perfect test for us. We go and play the Winnipeg Wesmen, and they’re a solid team. It’ll be similar to the Bisons, where if you let them, they’re going to take advantage of it. We just have to play our game,” stated Meier.

The Dinos face the Wesmen in a two-game road set, beginning Friday, Oct. 25, while the Bisons return home for a matchup with the Thompson Rivers WolfPack.

-UC-