November 24 - Calgary head coach Rod Durrant earned the first win of his CIS coaching career Friday as his Dinos (1-4) upset the CIS No. 5-ranked, 3-3 Manitoba Bisons 3-2 (25-23, 25-23, 18-25, 23-25, 15-8) in the Jack Simpson Gym.

With the Dinos holding a tenuous 10-8 lead in the fifth and deciding set, setter Glen Handley (5th, Sherwood Park, Alta.) connected with rookie middle David Egan (Calgary) for a spectacular 51 kill, vaulting the home side to a five-point run and the upset victory. A long roll shot to the opposite corner by fourth-year transfer Mike Weiss (Calgary) sealed it for the Dinos, who hit .500 while benefiting from five Bison errors in the final frame.

The hosts stormed out of the gates to open the match, taking quick 8-3 and 16-5 leads into the technical time outs in the opener.  The Bisons went on an 18-8 run to make it 24-23 with a service ace from Josh Klassen (5th, Winnipeg) and a kill from Matt Balchin (5th, Victoria) before Calgary’s Ryan Lenz (5th, Cranbrook, B.C.) put a stop to the comeback and the Dinos switched sides up 1-0.

The second set can only be described as ‘tight,’ with point-for-point action throughout. Manitoba took slim leads into both technical time outs and looked poised to even the match when Weiss was blocked solidly to put the visitors up 20-18. Calgary fought back to tie it up at 21-all when they got a block of their own, a solo effort from middle Aaron Winstone (4th, Victoria). The Dinos did not look back, taking the set 25-23 on a service error from Manitoba setter Drew Venables (3rd, Kamloops, B.C.).

Venables atoned for the error to open the third set with back-to-back service aces, giving the Bisons a lead they would not relinquish. Balchin and senior Toon van Lankvelt (Rivers, Man.) combined on back-to-back solid kills to end the set at 25-18 for the visitors.

The fourth set was much like the second, with neither team able to sustain a lead of more than four points. Calgary looked to be in command after back-to-back blocks from Handley made it 17-13, but a missed serve allowed the Bisons to creep back into it. The Bisons clawed their way back to tie it up, and Klassen sent it to a fifth set with a weak attempt that rolled along the net and fell onto Calgary’s side of the court.

Coach Durrant was pleased with Calgary’s play, noting that consistency was the key to the Dinos’ victory. “Playing a good team like Manitoba, you have to be consistent,” he said. “We’ve been working really hard at consistency and playing as a team. When you do that you get rewarded, and that’s what happened tonight.”

The tandem of Lenz and Weiss combined for 23 kills, many of the clutch variety, while David Egan came off the bench to hit .500 with four kills of his own. Toon van Lankvelt (5th, Rivers, Man.) and Klassen scored 14 and 13 kills respectively in a losing cause for the Bisons, who fall to 3-3 on the season after the setback. The teams combined for 30 service errors in the match, with 19 charged to the visiting Bisons, including six to Venables.

The series rubber match goes Saturday night when the teams face off again, 8:00 pm in the Jack Simpson Gym.

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