WVB: Dinos give themselves chance to advance, edge Cascades in four

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. – The Calgary Dinos put themselves in position to advance in the Canada West women’s volleyball playoffs, clawing out a four-set win over the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades on Saturday evening at the UFV Athletic Centre.

In a game of huge momentum swings, the Dinos were able to prevail (25-19, 21-25, 25-23, 25-20).

While it was Calgary’s first win in Pool A round-robin action after opening with losses to the Brandon Bobcats and Trinity Western Spartans, the result gives the Dinos new life. If the top-seeded Spartans are able to hold serve against the Bobcats later Saturday evening, the Dinos are in position to win a three-team tiebreaker with Brandon and UFV – all three teams would have matching 1-2 records, but Calgary would finish second in the pool based on head-to-head sets won/lost.

The Cascades, who come out on the short end of that tiebreaking scenario, see their season come to an end regardless of the Brandon-TWU outcome.

“I think I’m most proud about how we responded when things didn’t go our way,” Dinos head coach Christine Biggs said. “We showed a lot of resilience there – maybe a call we didn’t like or an error we weren’t proud of, and turning it into something good and showing some grit.

“The other part is, the group effort over the three days. We had a huge number of bodies on the court for us throughout the weekend, all supporting in ways that speak to their strengths.”

The Cascades and Dinos were level at 11-11 in the first set, but Calgary caught fire at that point. They would reel off eight of the next nine points, with Regan Ingram contributing a pair of kills and a four-point service run during that stretch. UFV’s Alicja Hardy-Francis responded with a four-point service run of her own as the hosts got back to within 19-17, but a pair of Kenzie Vaandering kills down the stretch helped the Dinos close it out 25-19. Vaandering led all players with five kills in the first, while Amanda Matsui and Mo Likness replied with four apiece for the Cascades.

The Cascades made a stirring comeback in the second to square the match. They fell behind 8-1 early, but were able to battle back as setter Kinna Fisher came off the bench to help shift the momentum. UFV drew even at 19-19 after a Likness kill, and Hardy-Francis came up big in the late stages – she had a kill and combined with Matsui on a pair of crucial blocks as the Cascades took it 25-21.

The third set started off as a near carbon copy of the second, as the Dinos opened a 6-0 lead – all of those points came on UFV errors. The Cascades battled back to within 17-15 after a trio of kills in quick succession from Kristen McBride, and they leveled matters at 22-22. Consecutive kills from Deserae Unger and Samantha Boag restored to Calgary advantage, though, and they were able to finish it 25-23.

Calgary once again built a big advantage in the fourth (17-11), only to watch the Cascades come roaring back. Kills from Likness and Cailin Bitter drew UFV back to within 20-19, but the Dinos responded with kills from Unger and Ingram, and came up big at the net with back-to-back blocks, to wrap it up 25-20.

“It’s a lesson that we have to learn – we have to control the match, and tonight we let Calgary dictate it a little bit more,” UFV head coach Janelle Rozema said afterward. “They followed their game plan a lot better than we did.

“They have the most creativity in their offence of any team that we’ve seen this year – it’s something we talked about, and I knew it was going to be hard. We also have creativity in our offence, but they had a better bead on our offence.”

Vaandering had a big game for the Dinos with 12 kills and 20 digs, and Ingram contributed 10 kills and 15 digs. Michela Alongi had 25 digs, and Stella Rains posted 34 assists.

UFV’s Matsui sisters both registered game-high stat totals – Amanda blasted 16 kills, while libero Emily had 26 digs. Likness (10 kills) and McBride (eight kills) also contributed offensively, and Cascade setters Cailin Bitter and Kinna Fisher notched 22 and 14 assists, respectively.