EDMONTON – In a battle for playoff positioning, the University of Calgary Dinos men’s volleyball team took care of business on Friday night.
The Dinos earned a straight sets win (27-25, 25-13, 25-21) over the MacEwan Griffins, strengthening their bid to climb up the conference standings.
Tyler Funk and Erik Godwin led Calgary with eight kills each, while Louis Kuntsman was a force in the middle with five kills and five blocks. Zack Durrant dished out 29 assists.
Mitchell Croft led MacEwan with 11 kills and five digs, while Brendon Lord chipped in with seven kills and seven digs in the loss for the Griffins.
Calgary jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the opening set, but the Griffins did a good job of not allowing the Dinos to go on any big scoring runs in the opening set and stayed within striking distance.
MacEwan tied the set at 21-21 and would take a 22-21 lead. Calgary had a chance to win the opening set, but a big block from Seth Birkholz tied the set at 24-24, but the Dinos found a way to pull out the tight opening set.
The Griffins could not generate momentum from their solid opening set, as the Dinos had complete control. Calgary took a 4-3 lead early and didn’t look back in a convincing second-set win.
The home side looked much better in the third set, holding an early 6-5 lead off. But after another kill to cut the Dinos’ lead to 15-13, Calgary was able to go on a small 4-0 run and that gave them enough cushion to eventually earn the set win and match.
Friday’s result sets the stage for an exciting regular-season finale on Saturday. With another positive result, Calgary could climb as high as sixth in Canada West.
Manitoba, UBC Okanagan, and Brandon all hold 9-10 records, with Calgary on their heels at 8-11. A tiebreaker decided by points could determine the playoff positioning – which currently favours the Dinos and Bisons.
The Dinos and MacEwan Griffins close out the regular season on Saturday at 5 p.m.
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