Dinos rally to earn spot in play-in round

EDMONTON – With their season on the line, the University of Calgary Dinos women’s volleyball team rose to the occasion.

The Dinos defeated the MacEwan Griffins 3-1 (16-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-21) on Saturday night at the David Atkinson Gym to secure a playoff spot on the final day of the regular season.

Not without some drama, the Dinos found themselves in a hole early after a difficult first set. The second set was not much easier, but some clutch plays from Sam Silva helped the Dinos shift momentum when it mattered most.

Calgary advances to the Canada West Play-in Round where they will face the Winnipeg Wesmen.

Sophia Hansen led Calgary on Saturday with 14 kills and five digs, while Daisy Olsen recorded 13 kills, 10 digs and three blocks in the win.

Arden Butler led MacEwan with 13 kills and 10 digs in the loss. Playing in her final match as a Griffin, Alyshia Bryks recorded 12 kills, 12 digs and one block.

MacEwan had a real solid opening set. They finished with 14 kills, and were efficient in the attack. The Griffins went on a big 9-3 run, and Kara Frith, who finished with 12 kills, ripped home back-to-back aces in the late stages of the first set to help MacEwan to the commanding set win.

The Griffins controlled the second set for almost its entirety, but the Dinos just wouldn’t go away. They hung around and were able to stay within striking distance and didn’t break.

The Dinos eventually took a 23-22 lead, and then an ace from Silva helped propel them to a 25-22 set win.

In Friday’s match, Hansen was the one who did most of the damage in the loss to MacEwan, and while she led the Dinos with 14 kills on Saturday, Olsen stepped up big for Calgary, especially in the third and fourth sets.

With only three kills after two sets, she rattled off five more in the third set and five more in the fourth set, giving the Griffins another weapon to try and contain — and that proved to be the big difference in the third and fourth sets.

The Dinos will travel to Winnipeg for next week’s Play-in Round best-of-three series versus the Wesmen from Feb. 20-22.