CALGARY — The No. 8 seeded Manitoba Bisons looked poised to open their Canada West quarter-finals series with an upset win over top-seeded Calgary, but the No. 3 ranked Dinos played strong in the final three sets, winning Game 1 of the best-of-three series in five (20-25, 22-25, 25-14, 25-12, 15-8).
The loss means the Bisons will need a win in Friday's Game 2 in order to force a Game 3 on Saturday afternoon at the Jack Simpson Gym.
Without their regular season kills leader Kate Pexman, the Dinos were led ably by Hannah Tanasichuk, who had 20 kills, four aces, and 15 digs to lead the match.
Manitoba got a well-rounded performance from setter Kelsey Jordan, who had eight kills and 33 assists, making a few stunning sneak attacks to help power Manitoba's offence.
Jocelyn Koswin led Manitoba in the kills department with 11 and seven blocks, while Laura Findlay had ten kills and four blocks.
The Bisons held the lead for most of the first set, making the Dinos play catch up. Jordan had the Dinos on their toes as they forced 10 attack errors in the set. Calgary could not tighten their play fast enough and Manitoba won the first set 25-20.
Strong play at the net by Manitoba allowed them to pull away from Calgary mid-way through the second set. The addition of Autumn Davidson off the bench seemed to give the Dinos some life, but it was not enough to salvage the set as they fell 25-22.Â
After the first two sets, the Dinos dominated.
In the third, Calgary was able to maintain a four-point lead for most of the set and improved on their hitting percentage, going to .314. Calgary took the third set with a 25-14 score.
The home side carried momentum into the fourth set and quickly built a lead with Tanasichuk on the service line. Manitoba fell behind with three service errors, while the Dinos had none. The Dinos ended the fourth set with a 13-point lead, winning 25-12.
"This is an awesome testament of our team to be able to bounce back," said Dinos head coach Adriel Goodman. "In the first two sets, we allowed the fact that we had a new lineup get to us a little bit and then when we settled down. We rolled with it and did what we do in practice."
Calgary carried their strong play into the final set. Dinos senior setter Leah Shevkenek had three straight serves, which helped the Dinos form a seven-point lead. The top-seeded Canada West team closed out the match with a 15-8 win.
Game 2 of the Canada West Quarter-finals series between the Dinos and Bisons will be tomorrow, Friday, February 22, at 4:30 p.m. CST.
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