Volleysaurs’ season crashes to a halt

By Carly McKay

The Dinos men’s volleyball team officially ended their season Feb. 11-12 against the playoff-bound University of Winnipeg Wesmen. The Dinos hoped to salvage a parting victory before waving the white flag and getting a jump start on the rebuilding process for next year.

Saturday’s contest was unfortunately a blowout, with the Wesmen cruising to the win in three straight sets (25-12, 25-19, 25-13). Stephen Gotch led the Calgary attack with eight kills. Blake Adair and Mark Henderson each chipped in four digs. Newbie setter Tim Smith got in on the action, putting up 19 assists and getting some valuable court time under his belt heading into off-season training.

Sunday’s match showed some improvement, although the effort came up a little short. The Dinos snatched the third set from the strong Winnipeg side dropping the series 3-1 (25-9, 25-13, 23-25, 25-14). Again, Gotch paced the team with 10 kills and seven digs while Rob Ellis put in a strong performance with seven kills and five digs.

This marks the end of an arduous season for the Dinos, but there has been evidence of a turnaround on the horizon. The Dinos are the top team for digs in Canada West, a conference that boasts the top-scoring teams in the country.

“There have been fewer reception errors this year,” Dinos head coach Greg Ryan noted of his team. “Fewer mistakes overall.”

With a plethora of new faces in the program, the team looks poised to make a learning experience out of this season and use it to their advantage come September.

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