Women remain unbeaten; men split vs. Griffins

It was lucky number 13 for the women’s volleyball team, as they cruised to their thirteenth victory in as many games this season, keeping the ACAC’s top team undefeated another week.

The dynamic-duo of Andrea Price and Breanna Estabrook was back at it again for the blue and white, combining for more kills (25) than the entire MacEwan Griffins roster on Friday night, pacing the Cougars to a 25-20,25-16- and 25-21 three-set victory.

Libero Julie Deveson was solid, contributing five digs in the victory, as was teammate Fallon Middlemiss who recorded two stuff blocks.

On Saturday, the white-wash continued as the Griffins were simply no match for the high-flying Cougars. The Cougs’ easily cruised to their 11th straight sets victory of the season, downing the Griffins 3-0 yet again; winning sets 25-20, 25-16 and 25-19.

Andrea Price continued her weekend domination, tallying another 13 kills with eight digs and Julia Pasieka continued to serve strong, racking up three aces along with her seven kills as she continues her bid for an ACAC all-conference selection.

The Cougar women will be back on the hard-court this coming Friday and Saturday versus their cross-town rivals, the SAIT Trojans (8-8).

Men
For the Cougar men, it comes down to consistency. An evening after capturing a thrilling five-set victory over the Grant MacEwan Griffins, the Cougar men were downed 3-1 on Saturday night.

After being handedly defeated in the first set of Friday night’s match, 15-25, the Cougar men rebounded with a pair of set victories in sets two and three (25-23 and 25-22) to regain the momentum.

A sloppy fourth set, 25-13 Griffins, forced a fifth and deciding set for the Cougar men who dug deep and gutted out an 18-16 victory in the fifth to take the match 3-2.

Will Young, Lucas Stepanko, Dan Durham and Graeme Beal all ended the match with five or more kills, as the Cougars balanced offensive attack proved key in the tightly contested affair.

On Saturday, the Cougars came out looking sharp, hammering the opposition 25-17 in the opening frame. Unfortunately for the Cougars, it was all the winning they would do on the evening, as the Griffins would come back with three-straight set victories 26-24, 25-18 and 25-19 to win the match 3-1.

The Cougars had trouble containing Griffins right-side Jeremy Potter who ended the match with 18 kills – while Graeme Beal and Jordan Lantz led the way for the Cougars, each tallying seven kills.

With the weekend split, the Cougars sit in tenth in the fourteen team division and hope to improve their standing when they meet up with the 11-5 SAIT Trojans this coming weekend.
The Cougars head across town to SAIT on Friday night, before returning home on Saturday for the re-match. Game time for the women is 6:00 p.m. while the men get underway at 8:00 p.m.