CALGARY – The Mount Royal University women’s volleyball team has punched their ticket to semi-finals after an electric four-set victory over the University of Calgary Dinos; 21-25, 25-22, 25-17, 25-13.
Saturday’s win comes less than 24 hours after a 3-0 win by the Cougars in Game 1.
It was a very different energy coming from the Calgary side to start Saturday’s match – the squad approaching the game with a higher level of intensity right from the first serve.
Daisy Olsen made a huge kill off the very first attack to start the night for the Dinos. The Cougars quickly returned the favour with a left side attack from Haley Roe. The two teams exchanged points one-by-one for the majority of first set play. Nikolaychuk put the Dinos into a winning stance with a quick two kills. A late set spree sent Calgary to their first win of the weekend, taking the first set 25-21.
The second looked similar to the first, with MRU almost unable to track the ball early. For every point they gained, they gave one away. It wasn’t until Quinn Pelland took the line and began to serve that the momentum began to shift in Mount Royal’s favour. Mount Royal went from trailing 7-4 to leading 16-10 in no time at all. Calgary continued to battle and drew back within two, but the comeback effort was too late as Dholi Thokbuom tied it up at 1-1 with one of her 14 kills on the night.
Mount Royal had a fierce start to the third set, going up 5-1 over Calgary before the Dinos called a timeout to reset. MRU continued their run and went up 14-6. The Dinos used their second timeout and came out regrouped, responding with a 4-0 run to cut the lead, but it was too much to overcome as the Cougars went ahead 2-1.
The fourth set was almost like deja vu to the third. Mount Royal created a lead early on and were able to contain the Dinos throughout. Second year Faye Murray put on a huge show, throwing down seven kills by the end of the night. It was the series of the season, with both squads leaving everything they had on the court and finding any way to sneak the ball past a block. In the end, Mount Royal took the set 25-13 over Calgary, with Emma Boyd hitting down the final attack.
The match was the final for a trio of Dinos as Stella Rains, Anna Wittenberg and Milana Zivak all wrap up their volleyball careers with the Scarlet & Gold.
“It was nice to play our last game in our hometown,” said Rains, Calgary’s player of the game. “It’s a strange feeling [being a fifth year]. It’s a sour ending, but I’ll always remember the good parts.”
Rains and the Dinos ended the season with a 1-1 playoff record and a 13-11 season record.
-UC-
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