Wesmen Draw First Blood in Play-In Series
Winnipeg hits .381 as a team in straight-sets win over Calgary
Team Stats
| Game Statistics | Calgary | Winnipeg |
|---|---|---|
| Hitting % | .214 | .381 |
| Blocks | 4.0 | 7.0 |
| Digs | 39 | 48 |
| Aces | 4 | 3 |
Recap by Dave Larkins, University of Winnipeg Sports Information
The Winnipeg Wesmen made quick work of the Calgary Dinos to take the first match of a best-of-three Canada West women's volleyball play-in series Thursday night.
Brooke Duncalfe had a match-high 20 kills and 14 digs as the Wesmen dispatched the Dinos 3-0 (25-22, 25-18, 25-20) to put themselves on the cusp of advancing to the conference quarter-final for the second straight year.
The series is a rematch of last year's play-in series that the Wesmen won in two. The winner of this series moves on to meet Alberta in the quarter-final.
Duncalfe's kill total was the second-highest in a three-setter in the Canada West this season and it continued an impressive run for the third-year left side who has notched at least 16 kills in each of Winnipeg's last four matches, all victories.
The Wesmen hit .381 and also got 10 kills from Megan Kendziora, seven and 11 digs from Ella Werbiski and even managed three kills on four swings from setter Naomi Unger.
"We had input from every player on the team and I thought overall we served quite well," Wesmen head coach Phil Hudson said. "They're such a big team and they run such a fast offense that if you let them stay in system it's hard to defend one-on-one against their attackers. We did a pretty good job of serving and we got offense from every position on the floor, which was great. It was a good team win overall for sure."
The Dinos hit a respectable .214 but found themselves digging out of holes throughout the night. They fell behind 12-6 and were down 22-17 late in the first set before rallying to pull to 23-22 down.
In Set 2, they trailed 16-14 before giving up a four-point Winnipeg run and, in Set 3, they gave up four straight out of the gates and trailed by as many as eight (18-10) before scoring six of the next seven to get back in it. The Dinos closed to 22-20 before Duncalfe single-handedly finished it off with three straight kills.
"The main thing is just our compete," Calgary head coach Christine Biggs said. "So when we're competing, when we're fighting, we're doing good things. When we let our foot off the gas, we're out."
Sophia Hansen's 14 kills led the Dinos, and Evvia Belireau recorded a team-high 10 digs.
Match 2 goes Friday at 6 p.m. on Canada West TV - Powered by BioSteel.