CALGARY – Erik Godwin finished with 16 kills and Louis Kunstmann added another 15 as the University of Calgary Dinos men’s volleyball team cruised to a 3-0 sweep of the MacEwan Griffins Friday night in the season opener inside the Jack Simpson Gym.
Calgary finished the night hitting .341 for the match while holding MacEwan to just .165 in the sweep, 25-19, 28-26, 25-18.
MacEwan came out of the gates on fire to start this one, quickly going ahead 8-2. But, the Dinos rallied and were able to level things up quickly at 12-12. Things stayed neck-and-neck until the final stretch. Tied at 18-all, the Dinos found their rhythm and three kills by Kunstmann and a pair by Jackson Meier gave the home team the first set of the season.
Both teams were hitting their stride in the second, as the Dinos hit .333 for the frame, while MacEwan finished .278 on the attack for the set. The Griffins led 23-18 late, only to see a massive Dinos rally. Godwin started things with a big kill, and a kill by Zach Evans tied things up at 23-all. Knotted up at 26-26 in extras, Godwin and Kunstmann once again were able to find the floor with one more kill each to finish things off a bring the crowd to its feet.
With all the momentum on their side, the Dinos rode that wave to victory in the third to close things out. Zack Durrant started things with an ace and a block by Godwin and Ethan Czepuryk capped a 6-0 rally to make it 23-16 late. Czepuryk and Tyler Funk combined for another big block before Calgary closed out its first win of the season.
Calgary and MacEwan will square off once again Saturday at 5 p.m. The game can be streamed live on Canada West TV.