The University of Calgary women’s volleyball team continued their early-season dominance on the weekend, sweeping the University of Winnipeg Wesmen and improving their season record to 6-0. The Wesmen proved to be little trouble for the deep and balanced Dinos attack.
Friday’s match saw the Dinos take the game 3-0 (25-22, 25-9, 25-22), with Laura Wilson again leading the way, collecting 10 kills in 22 attempts on the evening. Saturday was much the same with the Dinos taking the match 3-1 (25-18, 25-16, 19-25, 25-22). On the bright side for Winnipeg, Saturday’s third set was the first they’ve won all year and gives the Wesmen something to improve on in their next match. Lauren Perry led the way with 14 kills and Laura Wilson continued her incredible rookie season with 10 kills in slightly more than two sets.
“I thought we had a pretty solid weekend, with really good contributions from a number of different players,” commented coach Kevin Boyles following the victories. “We went into this weekend with all 14 of our players healthy and eligible to play for the first time this season. We put a lot of pressure on them the first night and other than the 25-9 set, the scores looked closer than it really was. On Sat. night, Winnipeg played much closer to their potential and we were challenged much more than we were on Friday night.”
The team looks to be firing on all cylinders with many of their players playing at a level not expected of them before the season began. Coach Boyles was quick to point out some of the strong contributions the team has received from unexpected, but notably talented, sources.
“Laura Wilson continues to be on a tier and is putting up CIS rookie of the year numbers,” he said. “Deanna Delisle is playing the best volleyball of her career and she was named the player of the match on Sat. night, a first for her with the Dinos. With Deanna and Willi Stikker-Breemhaar playing as well as they are in the middle, the talent that we have in our outside hitters, solid setting from both Kat [Moncks] and Sarah [Laony] and arguably the best libero in the league, Ray[nell] Lavertu, we’re going to cause significant problems for any team in the country.”
Despite the success the team has enjoyed early in the season, the Dinos women can expect a tough road ahead as they look forward to matches against some of the top-ranked teams in the CIS. Next week, the Dinos travel to the University of Manitoba to face the top-ranked team in the conference and follow that up in two weeks with a home set against the highly-ranked University of Alberta.
“The next two weeks will potentially determine whether we’re top of the league or middle of the pack and will likely also determine whether we’ll host through the play-offs or be on the road,” said Boyles.