Huskies take bronze against Dinos

SASKATOON, Sask. – A memorable playoff run came to an end for the University of Calgary Dinos men’s volleyball team on Friday night.

The Saskatchewan Huskies rallied after dropping the opening set and edged the Dinos 3-1 (26-24, 20-25, 22-25, 19-25) to claim the Canada West bronze medal and the conference’s third and final berth at the U SPORTS Men’s Volleyball Championship.

“That was a very tough environment to play in and our guys showed up ready to compete,” said Dinos head coach Rod Durrant. “We have nothing to be ashamed of, they can all be proud of their effort.”

Calgary showed its resiliency early on at the Physical Activity Complex at USask. Facing set point at 24-22, the Dinos scored four consecutive points with Jackson Meier at the service line, finished off on a kill by Erik Godwin.

Early deficits proved to be the Dinos’ demise though.

In both the second and fourth sets, the Huskies’ jumped out to massive leads, holding a 6-1 advantage in Set 2 and an even larger 8-1 lead in Set 4. Calgary managed to chip away at those Saskatchewan leads, but with the home team’s top offensive threats clicking, it was never enough.

Canada West all-time kills leader Dylan Mortensen scored a game-high 24, while Quinn Buchanan and Levi Olson contributed 14 and 12 kills respectively. Buchanan added six total blocks.

Calgary held a four-point led mid-way through the third set with a chance to go ahead in the match. The Huskies flipped the script with a five-point run to make it 19-17 and then closed it out with some impressive work on the service line as Olson earned back-to-back aces late.

Liam Kuppe led the Dinos with 12 kills in his final collegiate game. Louis Kunstmann also made an impact from the outside with nine kills along with five total blocks.

“We’re really proud of our seniors tonight,” remarked Durrant. “They really wanted this one and played exceptionally well under the circumstances.”

The Dinos’ impressive second-half run saw them win eight of their final 12 regular season games to secure a playoff spot in the final week. They then went to Mount Royal where they swept their local rival and one of the nation’s top teams. In the semifinal last week, the Scarlet & Gold took the Trinity Western Spartans to five sets in the series opener before moving on to the bronze medal match.

Along with Kuppe, the Dinos will graduate Canada West Second Team All-Star Lincoln Baines, who finished Friday with seven kills and six total blocks.

Saskatchewan advances to their first national championship appearance since 2016 and will travel to Hamilton, Ont. next week.

-UC-