3-1 on the road

Women:
The Cougars women’s volleyball team continues to soar up the standings, as another weekend sweep has them headed towards the top.

Sporting a 2-0 record to start the season, the women’s volleyball team was back in action after an early bye week, heading on the road to Fort McMurray to take on the Keyano Huskies.

Friday night’s match got off to an ugly start, as the Cougars dropped the first two sets, 22-25 and 17-25 to find themselves in an early 2-0 hole.

In the third set, the Cougars regained their championship form, hammering the home side, 25-15 before taking care of business in the fourth set 25-8 to set up a deciding fifth frame.

In the final set, the Cougars continued to carry the momentum, limiting the Huskies offensive opportunities, while displaying tremendous depth of their own on the offensive end, as four players registered nine or more kills in the match.

Leading the charge was Andrea Price, whose 11 kills were a game high and Julia Pasieka who tallied nine kills to go along with an outstanding eight solo blocks.

On Saturday, the Cougars looked like the team in the final three sets of Friday’s match, as they out worked, out hustled and outperformed the home squad, winning in straight sets 25-23, 25-18 and 25-17.

Andrea Price put together another noteworthy match, hammering the Huskies with 15 kills to go along with five digs, while teammates Breanna Estabrook, Julia Pasieka and Fallon Middlemiss all ended the match with seven kills apiece.

With the wins, the Cougars record now sits at a perfect 4-0 with the Lethbridge Kodiaks on deck next.

Men:
It was a tougher weekend for the Cougar men, who after soundly beating the Huskies on Friday, turned around on Saturday with a disappointing performance, getting swept 3-0.
On Friday night, the Cougars used Dan Durham’s 15 kill performance to help pace them to a 3-1 victory, 25-21, 25-20, 22-25 and 25-17.

The Cougars continue to get all-star caliber play from Durham, who sits in second overall in the league in kills per game, averaging 3.62 kpg.

Teammates Lucas Stepanko and Marco Vargas provided the defensive presence, registering a combined seven blocks in the match, as the team improved to 3-0 to start the season.

With the positive momentum in their favor Saturday, the Cougar men came out surprisingly flat, dropping three straight sets, 18-25, 14-25 and 21-25.

The Cougars were beat soundly in a number of areas, including blocks, where the team was stuffed 18 times, while only registering eight of their own in the match.

With the loss the team dropped to 3-1 on the season, but they will look to get back in the saddle on as they prepare for a home and home with the Lethbridge Kodiaks.

The Cougars will host the Kodiaks on Friday, before heading down to the ‘bridge on Saturday for the rematch. As always, women’s action gets underway at 6:00 p.m. while the men start at 8:00 p.m.