CALGARY – The Calgary Dinos completed a weekend sweep of the Fraser Valley Cascades, winning 3-1 (25-18, 21-25, 25-13, 29-27) on Saturday evening at the Jack Simpson Gym. Calgary finished the night hitting at a .282 efficiency, compared to .123 for Fraser Valley.
Both the Dinos and Cascades now close the first half of the season with identical 5-5 records.
The Dinos came out strong in the opening set, taking control early behind an opening kill from Sophia Hansen – picking up right where she left off the night before. Leni Blanke added a kill of her own as Calgary looked comfortable and confident from the first serve. A pair of Fraser Valley service errors helped extend the lead, and a Hansen ace pushed the margin to 7-2. Calgary continued to pressure at the net, highlighted by a solo stuff block from Hansen and steady serving from Courtney Webber, closing out the set 25-18.
The Cascades responded in the second, using a string of strong serves from
Talia Attieh to build an early 5-2 lead. Calgary clawed back with a smart tip from Ashley Ditchfield, immediately followed by a service ace. Hansen continued to adjust on each play, while a deep tip from Anya Fehr gave the Dinos an 11-9 advantage. Back-to-back kills from Blanke kept the set close, but Fraser Valley surged late with consecutive aces from
Naomi Unger to take the frame 25-21 and even the match.
With the match tied at one set each, Calgary came out refocused in the third and the Dinos cruised to a 25-13 win.
The fourth set proved to be the tightest of the night. Ditchfield sparked Calgary with a service ace, but Fraser Valley pushed ahead 6-3. Komori made a one-handed save that led directly to a Hansen kill, pulling the Dinos back within one. Komori finished with 15 digs in a strong defensive showing overall. Hansen delivered another ace, and Narelle Arnold capped a long rally with a forceful attack. Fraser Valley reached set point first, but Calgary responded with a clever short set from Fehr. The teams traded points to 27-27 before the Dinos grabbed the final two points to seal the game.
Hansen led Calgary with 17 kills and Blanke added 11 kills on .364 hitting.
Talia Attieh paced the Cascades with 14 kills and six aces, while Unger added five aces and four blocks.
UFV resumes Canada West play Jan. 9–10 when they play host to Brandon.
