Dinos settle for weekend split heading into Final Four

With the win, TWU won their second-round pool and will now host the Final Four next Friday and Saturday, March 18-19.

“They (Trinity Western) played really well today,” Dinos head coach Rod Durrant said. “They put a lot of pressure on us from the service line. I don’t think we were able to maintain our serve receive, and you have to be really solid to play against that block. You need to be on, and we weren’t as good as we were yesterday. We will learn from it and we will get better.”

Hamish Hazelden led the Dinos attack with nine kills on the afternoon. Lincoln Baines added seven on just 11 swings, while Erik Godwin added another five.

Brodie Hofer finished with a game-high 11 kills to lead a balanced attack for the Spartans. Mathais Elser filled the stat sheet with eight kills, 16 assists, seven digs and two blocks on the night.

The Dinos were neck-and-neck with the No. 1 ranked team in the country in the opener. Back-to-back blocks from Louis Kunstmann and Erik Godwin gave Calgary its first lead at 11-9, before a highlight play from libero Austin Ellchuk as he performed a bicycle kick for an incredible save, setting up a long rally and yet another Dinos block to keep things close midway through. Kunstmann added a kill to make it just 21-22 late, but TWU was able to rattle off three in a row to sneak out the first set.

Calgary continued to show its mettle in the second, battling the whole way. A kill by Godwin tied things up at 12-all and back-to-back Dinos points made it a two-point game late. But, like the first set, Trinity Western was able to find its rhythm down the stretch to go ahead 2-0.

It was all Spartans in the third, as they held Calgary in check offensively, while hitting .500 for the frame to clinch hosting next weekend.

Despite the loss on Sunday, Calgary now advances to its first Final Four since its three-year run from 2010-12.

“We get an opportunity to come back here next week and go against U of A in the first match and then we will go from there,” Durrant said.

Calgary will face Alberta – which won its pool earlier in the weekend – next Friday at 9 p.m. MT, following the opener between TWU and Brandon, scheduled for a 7 p.m. MT first serve. The Dinos and Golden Bears split the regular-season series, 3-3, with Calgary claiming the final two matches back in mid-February at home.