CALGARY – The University of Calgary Dinos men’s volleyball team secured their Canada West Quarter-Final spot after sweeping a best-of-three weekend battle against the UFV Cascades, taking Game 2 by a score of 3-1.
In what proved to be the final game of the year for the Dinos in the Jack Simpson Gym, Calgary won the first two sets and then held off a feisty comeback effort by UFV, 25-22, 25-19, 18-25, 25-20.
With the win, the Dinos advance to the round of eight where they will go up against second-seeded Alberta, starting Thursday in Edmonton.
Dinos player of the game and senior Louis Kunstmann ended his final at home match with a game-high 22 kills to go with six digs, five blocks, and one ace.
“Tonight is my final game in the Jack, so definitely an emotional one, but I’m glad we could end on a win,” Kunstmann said. “Moving forward and playing Alberta is going to be a fun one and keeping that battle of Alberta alive. I think we’re all glad we got to play a few more games at home and we’re pretty hyped about our performance this weekend as we head to Edmonton.”
“Over this weekend, we had to come back in the last game and we didn’t quite play how we wanted to, but we were able to turn it around and today we were able to maintain our pressure. I’m very proud of the team for coming together and rallying for these two wins so we can have a few days off.”
Coming off Thursday night’s thrilling five-set win, the Dinos were able to carry that momentum into the start of this one and got things going early with a quick 11-7 lead. Fraser Valley was able to claw back to within one at 20-19, but Calgary never relinquished the lead and put things away on a pair of errors by the visitors.
In the second, the Dinos came out swinging with Kunstmann and Erik Godwin making it 3-1 early on with back-to-back kills. The Dinos would pull ahead 17-10, but a string of kills from Cascades brought them closer in range. Rookie Cole Czepuryk and Jackson Meier landed some crucial attacks down the stretch with Godwin bringing it to match-point, as the set ended 25-19.
It was a service game for the Cascades in the third set. Just as it looked like Calgary might be digging back into this one at 16-13, Nimo Benne rattled off three aces in a row to give UFV six for the frame and put his squad ahead 20-13. Jonas Van Huizen closed things out with another service ace to make things interesting and bring things to 2-1.
Much like the first two sets, the Dinos created some early separation in the fourth and never let go. A solo block by Czepuryk made it 14-9, Calgary, before taking their largest lead of the set at 17-11 after an ace from Meier. As they showed all night long, UFV was here for a reason and used a 4-0 run to get back to within two late, but the Dinos always seemed to have an answer in this one and closed things out.
“I thought we deserved a better fate yesterday, but today they deserved the win for sure,” UFV head coach Nathan Bennett said. “We weren’t on our best game, but I definitely think we should’ve been playing tomorrow. I give the Dinos credit as they played a smart weekend and were up for the challenge. I’m excited to see them compete against UofA.
“This team is three years old and we’re growing every year. We’re getting a lot of good people into our program as we become more noticed. We have a lot of seniors who’ve had this program on their back and getting eyes on it, so props to them. Six of our seniors are moving out the door so we’ll be changing some things, but we have a good foundation still left for next year.”
Silas Van Huizen, Fraser Valleys setter, assisted on 42 of their 52 kills this match, while Dinos rookie Jack Kenney shaped his court with 36 assists in the win.
Calgary’s best-of-three quarterfinal in Edmonton starts Thursday. All three games are scheduled to start at 8 p.m. from the Saville Centre.
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