CALGARY – The University of Calgary Dinos were unable to sweep the visiting Manitoba Bisons men's volleyball team on Sat., Jan. 11 when they fell 3-1 (20-25, 19-25, 25-17, 23-25) at Jack Simpson Gym.

With the loss, the Dinos remain in fifth place with 16 points in the conference, while the Bisons improve to 6-8.

Calgary's Connor Frehlich led the way with 11 kills as the only Dino to get into double digits. Setter Jackson Maris, who came in after the first set off the bench, recorded 21 assists and eight digs. Middle Ivan Kartev had another 8.5 points for Calgary with four kills and 4.5 blocks.

For the Bisons, Devren Dear was once again the top scorer with 11 kills and a total of 14.5 points. Kevin Falconer scored another ten kills while middle Kenny Rooney added nine more. Setter Luke Herr recorded 35 assists.

Manitoba started the match much better than last night as they led the Dinos early on at 11-6, forcing Calgary to call an early timeout. From there, Greg Mann got the Dinos a quick couple of points to close the gap, but not for long. Manitoba led 16-12 at the technical.

A number of Calgary hitting errors didn't help the Dinos' situation and the Bisons capitalized, winning the first set 25-20.

The second set wasn't much better for the home team as nothing seemed to be working on offence. Up 16-11 at the technical, the Bisons went on to easily defeat the Dinos in the second 25-19.

Realizing he had to switch things up with the lineup, head coach Rod Durrant put in some hitters off the bench including Darcee Froese and Andrew Visser playing left-side. Tying the game at six, the Dinos took their first lead of the entire match the following point.

Later on, kills from Kartev and Frehlich led Calgary to a 13-10 lead, forcing Manitoba to call a timeout. Nothing changed as Calgary headed into the technical up 16-12 thanks to a big block from Maris. The Dinos built up their lead to 19-12 with the help of some offence from Froese and they would force a fourth set, staying alive with a 25-17 third-set win.

Using the same line combination in the fourth, Calgary had a tough time gaining back the lead early on. Down 9-5, a timeout from the Dinos helped them gain back some momentum and tie it up at 10. From there, the blocking on both sides of the net made it hard for hitters to get balls across to the other side of the court with some great defence.

Manitoba took a 16-14 lead at the technical and from there would maintain just a slight two-point lead from there on out. Despite Calgary's best efforts and some great volleyball being played, the Dinos were unable to close the gap. Two missed serves on the final two points gave the Bisons their final points to win the match and win the set 25-23.

While the Bisons get set to host the Mount Royal Cougars next weekend, the Dinos will take on the Alberta Bears in another installment of the Battle of Alberta.