Dinos women see conference bid end
You would be hard-pressed to find more evenly-matched women’s volleyball teams. Yet only one is going on to the conference finals and the other can only ruminate on what went wrong.
The University of Calgary, coming off their best season in a long, long time, saw their road end on Sunday afternoon as they dropped a four-set (25-22, 25-22, 28-30, 2624) decision to the UBC-Okanagan Heat in the Canada West quarterfinals.
“I’m so proud of the way we battled,” said an emotional Dinos head coach Natalie Gurnsey. “UBC-O challenged us and I knew it was going to be a hard battle. I’m so proud of the way we fought for every point. Obviously it’s heartbreaking that we’re not at Final 4.”
Calgary had blanked the Heat 3-0 in their first meeting on Friday night, then lost a narrow 3-2 decision on Saturday.
“The team we saw on Friday is not the UBC-O team they are,” Gurnsey said. “They’re a tough serving team, good ball control, great defensively and they had some hitters step up really big.”
On Sunday afternoon, each set was close.
When one team would assume the lead, the other made it difficult to close it out. UBC-O was just able to do it more often.
Gurnsey had talked about the Heat’s terrific defence prior to the series and it was never more evident in the deciding game. Heat players sucked up more balls than your high-end Dyson, making it very difficult for the Dinos’ heavy hitters to string points together.
“They’re just a great defensive team,” Gurnsey said, “and I think they came up with huge digs on balls that maybe shoulda, coulda ... they just make it really hard to score and that’s what gave them the edge.”
Down by two and on the brink, the home team did not give up. The third set was interminable, neither side willing to relinquish much but the Heat ultimately did as Calgary posted a gruelling victory.
But the hole they’d dug for themselves proved just too hard to get out of. Another back-and-forth fourth set eventually went to the Heat and with it went a berth into the Canada West tournament.
Apart from a very fluid defence, UBC-O also had the more balanced attack, with four players with double-figures in kills. Kaitlynn Given, Aidan Lea and Michelle Jakszuk all had 16, while Megan Festival recorded 13.
Kate Pexman, as she has all season, led Calgary with 14 kills, while first-year Hannah Tanasichuk had 10. “It’s pretty tough,” said the second-year Pexman. “They had some unreal digs, they were pretty unconscious on defence. It’s such a frustrating thing when you’re attacking; you feel you hit a great shot and they steal it from you with a dig. So that was a little hard to take.”
Of the many positives that the Dinos experienced this season, the fact that the bulk of the team will return is one of the biggest.
In men’s basketball, the Dinos came from behind to win an overtime thriller 111-106 over the University of Saskatchewan Huskies on Saturday afternoon to collect a bronze medal at the Canada West Final 4 tournament held at the Jack. It wasn’t what they had envisaged, as they’d hoped to repeat as conference champs. Nonetheless, the Dinos were named a wild card for the U Sports Final 8 national tournament to be held March 9-12 in Halifax.
The Dinos, their collective heads still thinking about the 74-72 semifinal loss they suffered the previous evening at the hands of the University of Manitoba Bisons, fell behind early 26-9 against the Huskies. Matt Forbes tied the game at 95-95 with 44 seconds left and Thomas Cooper scored 21 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter and overtime to lift Calgary to the victory.
The University of Alberta Golden Bears won Canada West gold by defeating the Bisons 92-73.