The regular season is over but a new season begins. The lady Dinos are about to engage in the post season, a stretch where new rules apply and whatever happened before does not matter.
One advantage Calgary has is momentum. After winning back-to-back weekends including a win over Regina and a recent win over Simon Fraser University where the Dinos took both matches in straight sets–Calgary is on a high. If the Dinos can stay focused in time for playoffs, a shot at the national title will be closer than ever.
As for last weekend’s performance–Calgary was simply stellar. The only downfall was the loss of team captain Tracy Keats who injured her ankle in Friday’s match after coming down on an SFU player’s foot. Fortunately for Calgary, the team will have time off before they jump into playoffs.
“We’re hoping for a two week recovery from Tracy” stated Head Coach Kevin Boyles, who found the whole situation somewhat humorous. “We had to use all our subs on Friday, and the only one left on the bench who didn’t enter the game was Jill Friend. I thought we would have to take two timeouts just to get her out of her street clothes.”
The team handled the situation with poise. Ried Brodie stepped in for the injured Keats and played middle, a position she seemed comfortable with, according to Boyles.
“Our team played well even against all the adversity we were faced with, and it just shows how deep our team is in talent,” said team captain Amanda Moppett.
Moppett had another outstanding performance. After being taunted by the SFU libero about her serves in warm up, Moppett, the true sportsmen that she is, decided to take aim at the libero in warm up and then made her eat her words–by dishing SFU a couple of aces and a flawless serving game.
But Moppett wasn’t the only one letting SFU know who’s boss. Joanna Niemczewska had a total of 19 kills and 14 digs on the weekend.
“Jo was ripping the ball like a man!” stated Moppett, who was quick to confirm that Niemczewska is not really a man, but then went on to compare her to Maury Povich shows where you can’t tell the difference between the men and the women. That’s when I got confused and decided to change the subject.
With third place in the Canada West Conference, the Dinos will play the University of Winnipeg who sit in fourth next weekend. If all goes well, Calgary may not even need to win their first round playoff match to go to nationals, as long as U of A and UBC walk away with wins.
“Even though we may not need to win, we want to win. It would be good to go to nationals ranked third,” said Assistant Coach Chad Leier.