SASKATOON – Dylan Mortensen finished with 17 kills and hit .438 to power the Saskatchewan Huskies to a 3-0 win (25-18, 27-25, 25-23) over the Calgary Dinos Saturday afternoon at the PAC.
With the weekend sweep, the Huskies improve to 15-7 on the season and remain in fourth place in the Canada West standings heading into the final weekend. The Dinos slip to 10-12 overall and are currently in seventh place.
Mortensen was the key for the host Huskies in this one, racking up 17 kills and 18 points. He continues his chase for the Canada West record in kills and points and sits just 32 kills shy after this weekend.
Teammate Quinn Buchanan added eight kills on just 10 swings for a .700 hitting percentage on the afternoon.
Jake Rapin led the Huskies offence well, dishing out 35 assists.
For the Dinos, Louis Kunstmann once again had a strong showing. The second year hammered home 10 kills while hitting .438 to go with a pair of blocks in the three setter. Also notably, Lincoln Baines and Liam Kuppe had three blocks a piece.
The Huskies came out strong to start the first set, storming to a 13-7 lead before a Calgary timeout. Saskatchewan continued to dominate the set, growing the lead to 20-12 before a second Dinos timeout. Calgary would put up a fight to get within five at 23-18, but back-to-back kills from Levi Olson and Mortensen gave the Huskies the opening win.
Calgary came out looking inspired to start the second set going up 7-3 before the Huskies would find a groove to tie things up at 11-11. Back and forth it went all the way to 25-25, but it was Quinn Buchanan with a kill before a Jake Rapin ace to give the Huskies the set win at 27-25.
The third saw the Huskies go up 4-1 early and it looked like they might run away with the set but to the Dinos credit, they would not break coming back to tie it at six. The Huskies would establish a 17-12 lead, but a four-point run just a few moments later would tie it up at 18. Calgary continued to push and tied things up through 23. But, it was the big man Jack McGeough and Mortensen with straight kills to take this one 25-23 and claiming the weekend series.
The Huskies have two games remaining in the regular season and will head to Winnipeg to take on the Wesmen on February 17 & 18. With a home playoff date locked up, the Huskies will look to see if they can climb the standings in the final weekend.
Meanwhile, Calgary will return home looking to clinch its playoff berth when it hosts Manitoba – the team directly below them in the conference standings – for a pair of games Friday and Saturday inside the Jack Simpson Gym.
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