By Brad Halasz
Smashing their way to gold at the Cougar Invitational, the University of Calgary women’s volleyball team is ready to take on the Canadian Interuniversity Sport Canada West season.
“I think all the girls are excited about the upcoming season,” said head coach Jesse Knight.
The Dinos had a slow start to the tournament, losing to the University of Alberta Pandas three sets to one, but got rolling later in the day shuting out the University of Winnipeg Wesmen 3-0 on the first day of action.
The win over the University of Manitoba Bisons in the semi-finals was especially sweet considering the Dinos have not beaten them in almost two years.
Down two sets to none, the Dinos rallied to win three straight sets and take the game.
“It’s great to get a good start like that but it’s even better when your back is against the wall to step up and get it done, that’s pretty important for pre-season,” said Knight.
On Sunday, the Dinos faced host team the University of Regina Cougars in the gold medal match.
In similar fashion to the Bisons game, the Dinos found themselves down early after the Cougars won the second and third sets.
The Dino’s tenacity prevailed though, as they took the fourth and fifth sets to claim top spot in the tournament.
The momentum from the win will be carried over to the West Coast Classic tournament in B.C. this weekend, before the Dinos host their own tournament – the Husky Dino Cup – Oct. 16-18.
Knight said the pre-season tournaments are beneficial to working out the kinks his team has.
“We need to work on a little bit of everything, but mostly timing. It’s always a challenge to get solid reads defensively and if we can get our offence rolling we’re going to be very hard to beat.”