CALGARY – The Calgary Dinos women’s volleyball team took down their city rivals Mount Royal at Jack Simpson Gymnasium as they split the weekend series, earning their first home win of the young season.
Saturday’s contest was a memorable one that went the distance with Calgary coming out on top, 3-2 (19-25, 25-12, 30-32, 25-22, 15-12).
This win moves the Dinos record to 4-6 in the Canada West play this season. The Cougars now have a 2-8 record.
“We’re pretty pumped,” Dinos rookie setter Anya Fehr said after the win. “Its really nice to get our first home win. We focused a lot on leaving our mistakes in the past and figuring out how we can side out right now and finding a way to score those points. Our team has really stepped up in the face of adversity and really contributed to our win tonight.”
The Dinos came out ready to swing in the first set as Daisy Olsen took the first point with a major kill. As the set progressed, the Cougars caught up and tied things up at 18-18. MRU was then able to get hot late and finish things off on an 8-1 run to claim the opening frame.
It was all Dinos in the second. Ironically, MRU started the frame claiming four of the first five points before Calgary completely took over. After trailing 6-4, the Dinos won the second set 25-12, hitting .500 (10 kills/1 error/18 attempts) while holding the Cougars to hit negative (-.071) to event things back up.
The third set was as exciting as they come. Things were neck-and-neck seemingly throughout, heading deep into extras before the Cougars finally found a way with a service ace by Bronwynn Davies-Neira for the 32-30 thriller. The Dinos amassed 17 kills and three blocks while the Cougars had 14 and four. Michela Alongi had 16 digs throughout the game as the libero for the Dinos.
The Dinos pushed back though, as Alice Nikolaychuk got hot, finishing with a career-high 19 kills. The third-year outside hitter helped the Dinos take the fourth, 25-22, and gain momentum back heading into the fifth.
After an early 6-2 lead in the fifth for the home team, MRU was able to rally and level things up at 12-all on a block by Faith Obasi and Jessica Osczevski. But the Dinos were able to force a pair of side outs before Carolyn Berze ended things with an ace to give Calgary the Crowchild Classic win.
The Dinos will travel to Vancouver next weekend to face the UBC Thunderbirds. The Cougars will remain in Calgary as they welcome the MacEwan Griffins.