Women drop first match, men eliminated from playoff conention

They may not have ended up finishing the regular season with an undefeated record, but the Cougars women’s volleyball team learned a valuable lesson in resiliency this past weekend, after dropping their first match on the year 1-3 (25-18 15-25 17-25 23-25) on Friday night.

Sitting at a perfect 17-0 headed into the weekend, the Cougar women only needed three more victories to cap their undefeated season, but faced a stiff test in the second overall Grand Prairie Regional College (GPRC) Wolves.

The night started off bright, with the Cougars claiming the first set 25-18, but turned dim as the women went on to drop the next three sets 15-25, 17-25 and 23-25.

Fallon Middlemiss led the Cougs’ with a team-high 13 kills and 16 digs, but the Wolves were able to effectively limit both Andrea Price and Breanna Estabrook, the team’s two leading attackers who both registered season low kill totals in a match over three sets.

“We didn't play very well on Friday,” said head coach Sandra Lamb. “But it was a learning weekend for us. We cannot be disappointed with a loss, it’s our first of the season - it’s about the process to get better each time out. We have a lot of work to do before provincials to face very tough opponents. We all start 0-0 so we need to be prepared for every point.”

Looking for improvement on Saturday, the Cougar women found redemption versus the Wolves’ albeit versus a slightly less than full-power GPRC team, as the Wolves’ rested a number of key starters in the re-match.

Julia Pasieka and Andrea Price combined for 25 of the Cougars’ 51 total kills, while winning in four sets, 25-13, 21-25, 25-14 and 25-18.

Lamb called Pasieka’s play, “one of her best of the season…”

With the victory, the Cougars locked up top spot in the ACAC, but have one match remaining on Tuesday, February 15th versus their polar opposite in terms of record, the 0-19 Augustana Vikings.

The lady Cougars will then have weekend off, before hosting the ACAC Championships February 25-27th.

Game time and matches are still TBD.

Men
Meanwhile, on the men’s side, the weekend outline was simple – win and you’re in.
Needing three victories in their next three matches, the Cougar men faced an uphill but manageable battle in their road to the playoffs and came within inches of reaching their final goal.

On Friday night, the Cougar men looked like the team they needed to be all season, downing the hometown Wolves in straight sets, 25-14, 25-16 and 29-27.

Dan Durham was his usual stellar self, hammering down a game-high 21 kills, while Will Young chipped in with 11 kills, five digs and a block – setting up a must win Saturday night.

Battling tooth and nail in Saturday’s re-match the Cougar men were downed in the first set 22-25. Showing they won’t go down without a fight, the Cougs’ rebounded in the second set, securing a 25-23 victory, evening the match a one a piece.

However, for the Cougars, their playoff hopes would go no further, as the Wolves would go onto win the third and fourth sets 25-19 and 25-21 respectively, to all but end the Cougars’ regular season.

Dan Durham continued to impress, as he posted a ridiculous 29 kills, a season-high for the league’s second ranked kills leader – but one man can only do so much, as the Cougars post-season hopes came to an end.

With the loss, the Cougar men will finish in 11th place, one spot away from moving onto Qualification Weekend, where the leagues 7-10th teams will square off against one another, with two earning spots in the playoffs.

The team will have one more match on Tuesday, February 15th versus Augstana which they’ll use to evaluate talent for next season – but it was a tough pill to swallow for a team on the cusp of post-season play.