Dinos, Cougars ready for local playoff matchup

CALGARY – Playoff season is here as the University of Calgary Dinos women’s volleyball team enters the 2023 Canada West postseason tournament this weekend against crosstown rival Mount Royal Cougars.
 
The best-of-three series gets underway Friday at 8 p.m., while Saturday’s match is scheduled for a 5 p.m. first serve. If Sunday’s game is needed, it will begin at 3 p.m.
 
All three games will take place at Kenyon Court on MRU’s campus and will be streamed on Canada West TV.
 
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW

– The Dinos wrapped the regular season seventh in this year’s Canada West standings with a 13-11 conference mark. Calgary started the season strong, winning nine of their first 12 matches before dealing with a number of key injuries after the winter break. The Dinos enter the postseason with wins in two of their last three, both of which came in three sets.
 
2. RIVALRY RENEWED – Calgary and Mount Royal are certainly plenty familiar with each other. The Dinos opened the regular season at MRU and earned a weekend split, sweeping the Cougars and handing them one of just their five defeats all year. Since Mount Royal joined Canada West, the two teams have been nearly evenly split, with MRU holding a slight 13-11 edge in conference games.
 
3. PLAYOFF REMATCH – In addition to playing each other six times in the regular season a year ago, the Dinos and Cougars also met in the playoffs last year, with MRU claiming a 3-1 win on their home court. The two teams also met in the postseason back in 2018, with Calgary sweeping the best-of-three quarter-final series en route to the conference title.
 
4. HISTORY CLASS – Speaking of conference titles, the Dinos will be looking for their 10th Canada West Championship in program history. The most recent came during that memorable 2017-18 season. Before that, Calgary had a run of three titles in five years from 2001-05, where they also were crowned national champions in 2004.
 
5. UP NEXT – If the Dinos advance past MRU, they will then take on the winner of third-seeded UBC and sixth-seeded Manitoba. That semifinal would take place next Friday-Sunday, March 3-5 at the opposing team’s campus. 

-UC-