Dinos drop nailbiter in Block Party

CALGARY – In a five-set bout that saw four sets decided by two points, the University of Calgary Dinos fell 3-2 (25-12, 24-26, 25-23, 16-18) to the Thompson Rivers WolfPack on Friday night at the Jack Simpson Gym.

The setback in their annual Block Party sees the Dinos slip to 3-8 on the season, while the Wolfpack jump above .500 at 6-5. 

The Dinos looked impressive out of the gates as they applied lots of pressure to the Thompson Rivers serve receive. The Dinos mixed in a good variety of spin serves and floaters which kept the WolfPack on their toes and they hit very efficiently at .500 as a team en route to a convincing 25-12 win.

Although the second set was much closer than the first, the Dinos once again saw themselves with a sizable lead down the stretch. In a reversal of roles, Lincoln Baines set Zack Durrant up for a kill, making it 22-18 Dinos. Out of a timeout, Thompson Rivers drew up a nice play for Rylan Ibbetson. The second-year outside hitter, who played a key role in the TRU victory tallying 12 important kills in the contest, powered it home down the left side shrinking the lead to just three, From there the WolfPack were able to regain momentum and tie it up 22-22. Despite hitting .071 in the set Thompson Rivers were able to come out on top 26-24.

The third and fourth sets followed a similar narrative as both were back-and-forth battles, with neither team willing to relent. Leading by just one point late in the third, fifth-year Dino Liam Kuppe rose above the TRU block to drive home the dagger, making it 24-22. The Dinos would go on to win the set shortly later.

WolfPack outside hitter Corbin Ockerman stepped up big time for his team in the fourth, registering the final two kills to break a 23-23 tie.

The fifth and final set was representative of the match as a whole as both teams left everything they had out on the court. Despite falling behind 10-6 Calgary rallied back to tie the game at 15 all. At the end of the day, the WolfPack attack proved to be too much for the Dinos to handle as they peppered Calgary’s block with a barrage of hits throughout the final points. Thompson Rivers would go on to win 18-16 off the hand of Sam Flowerday, who led all players with 18 kills on the night.

Baines knows his team will be determined to win in Saturday’s rematch.  

“I feel good about tomorrow. The guys are pretty mad right now, so I think we’ll have a fire in our hearts tomorrow to play. Last game of the first semester so it should be good.”

Calgary and Thompson Rivers take the floor at 7:45 p.m. at the Jack Simpson Gym on Saturday.