CALGARY – The No. 7 Saskatchewan Huskies got revenge on Saturday night when they defeated the No. 4 University of Calgary Dinos in straight sets (25-23, 25-19, 25-17) at Jack Simpson Gymnasium. Yesterday the script was flipped with the Dinos taking the three-set win.
With the weekend split, the Dinos now have a 9-3 record heading into their bye week and the break, while the Huskies will improve to .500 at 5-5 with one weekend of volleyball left to play.
Keith West, Curtis Stockon and Sean Martinall recorded a team-high five kills for the Dinos in the loss, with West adding a game-high 10 digs.
For the Huskies, Jordan Nowakowski led the way again with a game-high 13 kills, followed by 11 more from Andrew Nelson. Setter CJ Gavlas added 28 assists and middle Tyler Epp recorded eight kills and nine blocks in Saskatchewan's winning effort.
In the first set, the Dinos' slow start put them in a hole early on that they had a hard time getting out of. Down 10-7, Calgary began their comeback and found a way to tie it at 15 all. Later on down the stretch, both teams were tied again at 22, but it was the Huskies who finished the set with a big kill from Epp in the middle to win it 25-23.
The following set saw a much closer match early on. Tied at ten, it was the Huskies that were able to pull away and take a 16-14 lead at the technical. After the timeout, the Dinos went into a bit of a slump, and Saskatchewan doubled it's lead. With some great defense on the Huskies side of the court, the Dinos weren't able to counter and dropped the second 25-19.
The third set didn't prove to be much better for the Dinos as they were unable to get any solid offence going. The Dinos were down by just three at 10-7 and hoping to make a comeback, but to no avail as the Huskies began to pull away. Soon the scoreboard read 20-12 and despite a timeout that got Calgary back within five, the Huskies cruised to the 25-17 win, ending the match in straight sets.
The Dinos now finish the first half of the season with a bye next week and will begin the new year with a doubleheader against the Regina Cougars Jan. 8-10.