Langley, B.C. – Brodie Hofer finished with a game-high 25 kills and hit .488 for the match to lead the No. 3 Trinity Western Spartans to a 3-2 win over the No. 7 Calgary Dinos in the first game of the best-of-three semifinals Thursday night from inside the Langley Events Centre.
In a marathon match that didn’t start until after 9 p.m. local time and lasted well past midnight in Calgary, the Dinos nearly made it three upsets in a row to start their postseason after a sweep of No. 2 Mount Royal last weekend, but came up just short down the stretch, 22-25, 25-20, 14-25, 25-23, 15-7.
Zack Durrant finished with 39 assists and nine digs for Calgary, while Mathias Elser tallied 53 assists and seven digs for TWU.
After a delayed start time due to the women’s game leading up to tonight’s Dinos/Spartans showdown, the two teams both came out strong and went back and forth down to the end. TWU held a 23-22 lead late and they were able to do just enough for the final two points to claim the opener.
The Spartans continued to roll early in the second, jumping out to a 7-2 lead and forcing an early timeout from Calgary. But, as they’ve already demonstrated plenty this postseason, the Dinos maintained their composer and slowly chipped away. Drawing within 18-16, Calgary went on a 6-0 run that completely flipped the set to knot things up at 1-1.
It was all Trinity Western in the third. The Spartans went ahead 7-2 early and never looked back for the 2-1 lead.
But Calgary once again showed its poise under pressure. All tied up at 20-20, the Dinos turned to Godwin, who responded with the next three points for the Scarlet & Gold and a 23-21 lead that proved to be all the separation they would need to force this one to a fifth.
TWU was able to find its rhythm again in the final frame and hit .727 with eight kills on 11 swings to claim the opener.
“We’re really happy in the way we came out,” Dinos head coach Rod Durrant said. “Obviously we battled, but [TWU] showed that they had a different level they could get to in the fifth set, and we couldn’t match it tonight. We had a good team plan and strategy. The team battled well together.
“We’ve always said we wanted to be the best team in March. It was a process at the start of the season, but we’re playing our best volleyball now, and that was our plan from the beginning. We’re happy with where we’re at.”
The Spartans finished the match hitting .405, while the Dinos also had a strong showing at the net, finishing with a .250 attack percentage.
Game 2 is set for Friday, with first serve tentatively scheduled for 9:30 p.m. MT, following the conclusion of TWU’s women’s match.
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