The University of Calgary women’s volleyball team continued their winning ways, sweeping Trinity Western Spartans over the weekend. On paper, the match should have been much closer than it turned out as Trinity Western was the sixth-ranked team in Canadian Interuniversity Sport. This did not turn out to be the case when the Dinos easily defeated the Spartans in Saturday’s match 25-16, 25-19, 25-15. Captain Julie Young led the Dinos with 15 kills. Strong performances from Willemina Stikker-Breemhaar, who contributed eight assisted blocks, and Raynell Lavertu, who added 13 digs, increased the team’s success. Coach Kevin Boyles was extremely pleased with his team’s performance.
“They’re one of the top-six teams in Canada and we really took them out of their game on Sat.,” said Boyles.
Sunday was much the same story as the Dinos took the match 25-23, 15-25, 26-24, 25-12. However, the Spartans did make a game of it and, in the second set, really raised their level of play.
“We battled very well on Sunday to get the sweep,” commented Boyles. “We did have a one-set breakdown on Sun. afternoon, but that’s the nature of volleyball.”
Calgary, again, received strong performances from Young, who had 15 kills, Lauren Perry and Holly Harper, who contributed 12 and 10 kills, respectively. Coach Boyles went on further, commenting on his team’s ability to battle through adversity on the court.
“[Volleyball’s] such a game of momentum that it is very easy to have the wheels fall off when you are playing one of the better teams in the country,” commented Boyles about UBC. “I was impressed with our recovery and the poise that we showed in coming back from that set to ultimately regain control and hand it back to them in the fourth [set].”
The Dinos will now turn their attention to their matches against UBC this coming weekend. The games are slated to be a good test for the team, as the Thunderbirds stand at second place. Despite that, the team is still confident. They have almost locked up third place in CIS, so they can lay it on the line against one of the top two teams in the conference.
“This is a fantastic opportunity to test ourselves against arguably the best team in the country, in a hostile environment at their gym,” stated Boyles. “This weekend will let us know one way or another how ready we are for that stretch drive and will give us a very clear idea of where we need to improve before the playoffs.”