CALGARY – Erik Godwin had a big night for the Dinos with a team-high 16 kills and a career-high six aces as he helped the Calgary Dinos men’s volleyball team to a reverse sweep with a five-set win over the UFV Cascades at the Jack Simpson Gym Thursday evening.
The first in a best-of-three play-in series in the Canada West playoffs, Fraser Valley took the first two sets only to see the Dinos regain momentum in the third and never look back, 22-25, 17-25, 25-12, 25-23, 17-15.
“We started off flat and seemed tentative, but we got better as went along,” Dinos head coach Graham Vigrass said. “We need to be sharper on block defence tomorrow. There wasn’t a lot we wanted to work on in the playoffs, but it’s about being in the right mind space and confident in our play.”
“The work has been done and now it’s enjoying and playing hard. We want to be present tomorrow and try to separate ourselves from the result. It’s hard with the added pressure of playoffs, but staying present will help lead to a higher chance of success.”
The first set saw the Cascades come out swinging, gaining an early seven-point lead at 13-6. Calgary responded with a huge 8-0 run, all of which came with Godwin at the service line as he had four aces during that run alone, to get the home squad into the match. Neck and neck the rest of the way, UFV took advantage of some untimely Dinos errors to take the opener.
The second set saw a similar matchup between the teams with the Cascades landing 10 kills and three blocks against the Dinos. UFV was in control seemingly the whole way in the second, with Jonas Van Huizen finishing things off with one of his five kills in the frame to put his squad up 2-0.
The Dinos’ momentum changed as they took on set three. After hitting an uncharacteristic negative in each of the first two sets, Jack Kenney subbed in and provided a big spark at setter as the Dinos hit .588 in the third to completely turn things around. An 11-2 run by Calgary broke this one wide open and Godwin hammered home a party ball to finish the set and bring the home fans to their feet.
The two teams were knotted up a total of 12 times in a nailbiter of a fourth. With things even at 23-apiece, Jackson Meier came up with a big kill before Tyler Funk teamed up with Meier for a big block to send this one to a fifth set.
It looked like the Dinos were going to ride their late surge to an easy win the fifth as they jumped out to leads of 9-4 and 13-8, but UFV showed their mettle. Silas Van Huizen started the late rally with a kill before an ace. Brother Jonas followed up with a kill and back-to-back blocks and just like that things were tied at 13-all. The two teams traded serves before it was once again Godwin coming up clutch with his final kill of the night giving the Dinos the thrilling win.
Individually, J. Van Huizen racked up a double-double with 19 kills and 11 digs to go with five blocks. Nimo Benne added another 16 kills, while S. Van Huizen guided the Cascade attack with 43 assists.
Cole Czepuryk continued his strong second half with 14 kills and six digs in this one for Calgary.
“We had evenly matched teams going at it and it was exactly what I expected to see,” Cascades head coach Nathan Bennett postgame. “It came down to a missed serve and a good swing. Heading into tomorrow, we want to try to slow down some of their key hitters, (Louis) Kunstmann and Czepuryk, and serve reception is going to make a big difference. The regular season for us was up and down and we need to find some consistency now.”
The teams will return Friday evening for Game 2 from the Jack Simpson Gymnasium at 6 p.m.
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