Dinos have to go through host Laval first to earn national title
QUEBEC CITY Lucky No. 13.
Or so they hope.
It’s been 13 years since the Calgary Dinos women’s volleyball team bumped its way to the Canada West Conference title.
Now, with that honour in their back pockets, the Dinos plan to parlay their success into a national crown this weekend at the U Sports championship hosted by Universite de Laval.
As the top-seeded team in the Quebec City tournament, the Dinos will face the lowest seed — which just happens to be the host Laval Rouge et Or, who will likely enjoy a significant home-court advantage when the tournament opens Friday.
The Dinos and Rouge et Or will play the third quarter-final of the day on USPORTS.live (4 p.m. MT).
It’s the first trip to nationals since 2009 for the Dinos, who are looking for their first national title since 2004.
The team will have an added wrinkle to deal with this week: head coach Natalie Gurnsey did not make the trip as she is set to give birth to her first child any day.
The team will be led by assistant coach Al Taylor, who has plenty of experience at the highest level. He was captain of Canada’s 1976 Olympic team, and was a longtime assistant coach with the na- tional team and head coach at the Summer Universiade. Taylor also stepped in for Gurnsey in January when the Dinos travelled to Thompson Rivers, B.C.
“Nat announced back in August that she was going to deliver on the day we were supposed to travel, if we got here, so the players have been preparing for that all along,” Taylor said. “For the last few weeks, they have been playing really well confidence-wise, and I think they are in the groove.”
The Dinos’ journey through the Canada West playoffs was a dominant one, winning all five of their post-season matches and wrapping up the conference title with a 25-10 win in the fourth set over UBC last Friday in the Jack Simpson Gym.
“It feels like this is the year that it is meant to happen. For all of us fifth-year players, it means a lot, but it means a lot to everyone on this team, so it is nice we can enjoy it all together,” said Dinos outside hitter Laura McManes following the team’s practice Wednesday.
“Even in practices, I think we have been playing some of the best volleyball that we have been throughout the entire season. Everything we have done has been meant for this.”
The winner of Friday’s quarterfinal will face the winner of the Ryerson Rams-UBC Okanagan Heat in the semifinal Saturday. The early quarter-finals see the No. 2 Montreal Carabins against the No. 7 Alberta Pandas and the No. 3 UBC Thunderbirds taking on the No. 6 Dalhousie Tigers.
The national championship match is scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday. All matches will be held in the PEPS Gymnasium on the campus of Université Laval.
Meanwhile, Calgary outside hitter Brianna Solberg earned the U Sports’ Marilyn Pomfret Award for Student-Athlete Community Service for her outstanding contribution on and off the court during Thursday ’s awards presentations.