CALGARY – The University of Calgary Dinos men's colleyball team wrapped up their first home match of 2020 with a 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-11) win over the No. 3 ranked Brandon Bobcats Friday night in the Jack Simpson Gym.
Calgary improved to 7-6 on the season while dropping Brandon to 11-4.
The Dinos hit the ground running and went up 5-0 to start to open the first set, guided by four attack errors from the Bobcats. With the Dinos energy running high the Bobcats battled back thanks to the duo of
Elliott Viles and
Reece Dixon. After trading points throughout the set it was Liam Laidlaw who sealed the deal for the Dinos in the first finishing the set 25-22.
The second set was very much the same story with the Dinos going up early, however this time the Bobcats surged back to gain an 11-7 lead. With the Bobcats hungry after falling in the first set, the Dinos leaned on Mac McNicol and Hamish Hazelden to put away the second set 25-22.
While the first two sets were essentially the same story, the third was completely different as the Dinos put on a masterclass in a 25-11 win. The Dinos hit 85 per cent in the frame.
"We got away and the team trained in California for six days and we were very pleased with their commitment, their focus, and our training was really good," said Dinos Head Coach Rod Durrant. "We were able to transfer that into the way we played tonight."
The Dinos were led by fourth year Hamish Hazelden and fifth year Mac McNicol, who finished with 17 and 14 kills, respectively. Playing without stars
Seth Friesen and
Robin Baghdady, the Bobcats were led by senior
Elliott Viles, who capped off the night with 11 kills.
The teams will be back in action Saturday evening at Jack Simpson Gymnasium in the rematch, with first serve set for 5:30 p.m. MT.