By Amanda Hu
A lot of things happened over our long break in the world of Dinos athetics. We at the Gauntlet always want to keep you up to date, so here are some briefs on what happened.
The Dinos announced the appointment of women’s volleyball coach Kevin Boyles as the program’s interim athletic director Wed., Jan. 2. The move followed former director Don Wilson’s removal from the position for undisclosed reasons. Boyles will continue coaching his team through the duration of his job as director, which is slated to last throughout the remainder of the 2007-08 season, as well as chair an advisory committee for the program.
Women’s Volleyball
The lady volleysaurs rocked all wins in their four games during the break, bringing their winning streak to a tally of six. Their first weekend set saw the team shake off some noticeable holiday dust, beating the Regina Cougars 3Â-0 (30-28, 25-17, 25-18) Fri., Jan. 4 and 3-2 (25-23, 25-21, 19-25, 23-25, 15-13) Sat., Jan. 5. The team pulled through sloppy play with the solid leadership of captain Julie Young, who scored an impressive 16 kills and seven digs on Fri. and 16 kills and 20 digs on Sat. The ladysaurs regained momentum facing off against the Saskatchewan Huskies Jan. 10 and 11. They managed two shutouts after pulling out behind a strong 4-0 Husky start Thu. and with Lauren Perry managing 16 kills Fri.
Men’s Volleyball
The guysaurs of volleyball shut out their competition, scoring wins over the Cougars and Huskies. The team managed a 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-19) win as Omar Langford pushed through with eight kills Fri. night. They continued the streak, pummelling the Cougars 3-1 (25-14, 21-25, 25-22, 27Â-25). This win made for coach Rod Durrant’s first CIS weekend sweep. Victory followed the team to U of S, as they beat the 1-10 Huskies through both games of the weekend set Jan. 10 and 11. Langford shone again for most of the matches, as the scores settled at 3Â-0 (25-18, 25-13, 25-20) and 3-1 (25-15, 25-22, 23-25, 17-25, 16-14).
Men’s Hockey
The hockeysaurs saw some action against the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds Jan. 4 and 5. Jared Aulin was unstoppable going into the Dinos’ first game versus the T-Birds and Jeff Weber gave a solid goalie performance, keeping UBC at bay with the game finishing 6-3 Fri. night. Offence was in full force as the second game of the weekend came up to a high 8-6 win for the Dinos. Aulin kept the pucks coming, bringing his goal total to surprising nine in six games.
Women’s Basketball
After a short holiday break, the basketsaurs fought it out for three victories against Laurentian University (62-60), the University of Victoria (94-77) and Carleton University (85-62) Dec. 28-30. The team then underwent a Battle of Alberta against the University of Alberta resulting in a win and loss Jan. 4 and 5. The first match was a solid blow to the Pandas as the Dinos decisively finished 81-68. The game was touch and go, as both teams mirrored each other in stats with Calgary scoring 28 rebounds to Alberta’s 30, eight steals to six and 20 turnovers to 18. The Pandas fought back in the weekend’s second game, beating the Dinos 93-74. Dinos strong-shooters Courtney Coyle and Whitney Haswell fought hard with 13 and six points, respectively, but fouled out, leaving the team in a tough spot that they couldn’t seem to get out of.
Men’s Basketball
The basketball dinosaurs spent some time in Winnipeg for the MTS Wesman Classic, battling against Acadia University, Brock University and the University of Winnipeg Dec. 28-30. After suffering one loss to Brock with 75-72, the team finished the tournament with two wins and a loss, earning a bronze medal. Their own Battle of Alberta resulted in a loss (87-68) and win (98-87) against the U of A Golden Bears Jan. 4 and 5. The Bears’ early 18-16 lead kept the Dinos out of the win column, as they succumbed to foul trouble Fri. Calgary fought back the next night as Jeff Price led the charge, scoring 23 points.