Cameron Doherty, Huskie Athletics
SASKATOON – The University of Saskatchewan Huskies men's volleyball team used a relentless attack to defeat the visiting Calgary Dinos in straight sets (25-19, 26-24, 25-21) on Ron and Jane Graham Centre Court on Friday, Nov. 9.
The win was the third in a row for a Huskies team that has now won their last nine sets consecutively to move them to 3-2 on the season. Calgary meanwhile, falls to 1-2 with the loss.
Despite the 3-0 scoreline, the game was close throughout, with night ending with most stats appearing identical barring Saskatchewan's .236-.180 advantage in hitting percentage.
Colin Fraser and Dylan Mortensen ended the game with 13 and nine kills respectively, while CJ Gavlas was again the key to the Huskies attack with 28 assists.
Tim Taylor and Liam Laidlaw were the top attackers for Calgary, recording 9 and 7 kills. Gavin Taylor tallied 10 digs in the losing effort.
A back-and-forth first set saw the Huskies take their first three-point lead at 17-14. From there the home team caught fire and ended the set with an exclamation mark from Fraser after out-scoring Calgary 8-3 down the stretch.
Saskatchewan rode that momentum into the second half and jumped out to an early four-point lead before the Dinos battled back. Calgary was ahead 24-22 after strong serving runs from Blain Cranston, Liam Laidlaw and Liam Kuppe. The Huskies refused to let the set slip away however, and after a kill from Connor Murray, Levi Olson stepped up to the service line and tied the game at 24 with an ace. Olson served out the set after Daulton Sinoski recorded a block and a kill on the final two points of the second frame.
Calgary would again put up a stern effort in the third set but couldn't ever stretch a lead too far from a Saskatchewan team that would take the final frame 25-21. The Huskies took over momentum after grabbing the lead at 12-11 and refused to look back en route to the victory.
Both of these teams will be back in action tomorrow, Nov. 10, in a game scheduled for 8 p.m. inside the PAC. That action can be watched live on canadawest.tv