CALGARY – The University of Calgary Dinos women’s volleyball team couldn’t fight off the Mount Royal Cougars as they dropped all three sets to their cross-town rivals on their second matchup of the weekend, falling 3-0 (16-25, 21-25,14-25) Saturday night at the Jack Simpson Gym.
Dinos team captain Kenzie Vaandering tallied up a total of ten kills for the night. Dinos first-year Sophie Reed played well and finished with nine kills and, despite a strong performance from Calgary’s libero Michela Alongi, who managed nine digs, it wasn’t enough to hold off the Cougars.
“It’s obviously disappointing to open the season with two losses,” Dinos head coach Christine Biggs said. “There is a tonne of learning going on and lots of experience and confidence to be built and we’re really fortunate to have a full season ahead to do it.”
The Cougars’ pair of outside hitters Madison Marshall and Haley Rose lead their team to take down the Dinos at the Jack. Marshall was all over the court, leading in kills with 11 off of 26 total attacks, while Rose managed nine kills in 19 attacks.
The Dinos and Cougars went back and forth through the second set. After falling down 19-15, the Dinos fought their way back to within one late. But, after taking a late-set timeout, the Cougars pulled away behind back-to-back kills to set up match point where Quinn Pelland and Emma Boyd finished things off with one of MRU’s seven blocks on the night.
After a service ace by Calgary’s Regan Ingram to start the third set, the Cougars quickly pulled away to an 8-1 lead before the Dinos called for a timeout. The Dinos managed to claw back a few points with kills by Sophie Reed, Desirae Unger and Kenzie Vaandering, but couldn’t close the gap on the Cougars who won decisively.
Next up the Dinos will take on MacEwan University Nov. 12-13 at the Jack Simpson Gym. The first serve is at 6:00 p.m. Friday, and can be seen live on Canada West.tv, presented by Co-op.