Women closer to perfection; men need to win to make playoffs

The magic number is down to three for the Cougars women’s volleyball team as their quest for the perfect season continues.

Sporting a spotless 15-0 record headed into the weekend, the lady Cougars looked every bit their dominate selves, as they overpowered the Red Deer College Queens in a pair of 3-0 and 3-1 wins.

Using a 14 kill effort by Andrea Price on Friday – the lady Cougars jumped out to an early lead in the first set and never looked back as they crushed the Queens 25-11, before winning more competitive sets 26-24 and 25-23 – despite trailing at several points in both sets.

Price added eight digs in addition to double-digit kills, while Diyon Van Nistelrooy had five kills, five blocks and three aces.

In part two of the weekend action, the Cougars continued to run their record to 17-0, while yet again downing the Queens, this time dropping the visitors 3-1.

Winning the first two sets in relatively easy fashion (25-15 and 25-20) the Cougars would drop the third set 18-25 – only the fifth lost set all season.

The blue and white would regain their form in the fourth, putting away the Queens 25-22 to capture their seventeenth victory in a row.

Andrea Price (15 kills) and Breanna Estrabrook (14 kills) combined for 29 of the teams’ 49 kills, while Mackenzie Allen and Fallon Middlemiss each added three service aces in the victory.

"They were well fought matchs this weekend," said head coach Sandra Lamb. "It has been a while since we were able to come out with back to back wins against a very strong Red Deer team."

The weekend also featured an emotional ceremony, as fifth-year middle Diyon Van Nistelrooy played in final regular season game in front of the home town fans. Diyon has spent six seasons with the Cougars, five as a player and one as an assistant coach, and Lamb said it was tough to see her go.

“Diyon is everything we hope as a player that goes through our program,” stated Lamb.” She is a very good student and great role model and ambassador for Mount Royal – we will definitely miss her.”

With only three games remaining until the ACAC playoffs, the Cougar women look poised to finish the season undefeated.

Standing in their way, however, is probably the stiffest test for the Cougars all season in the number two overall Grand Prairie Regional Wolves.

The Wolves have run their record to an outstanding 15-3, but are coming off a rare three game sweep, after falling prey to the Grant MacEwan Griffins over the weekend.

The Cougars will head on the road to Grand Prairie this weekend, before heading to Camrose next Tuesday, February 15th to take on Augustana, in a match that had to be re-scheduled due to poor weather earlier in the season.

Cougar Men
So close, yet so far – that’s how it must feel for the Cougars men’s volleyball team.

A weekend after dropping a pair of narrow losses to the SAIT Trojans – including losing sets 25-27, 28-30 and 30-32, the Cougar men continued to be on the cusp of victory, only to have it snatched away in the matches final points.

After getting off to a hot start on Friday, winning the first set 25-23, the Cougar men faltered slightly in the second, losing 17-25 as the Kings’ Taylor Hunt literally carried the team on his back, securing 10 kills, four aces and one block in the second set alone.

The two teams would trade blows in the third and fourth sets, with the Cougars winning the third frame 25-22, before dropping the fourth, 23-25.

It looked like the Cougars would finally get off the schneid in the fifth set, as they took a 10-7 lead into the match’s final few points – but the resilient Kings would continue to find ways to hurt the Cougars, namely in right-side Taylor Hunt who ended the match with 37 kills in helping the Kings win the fifth-set 15-13, effectively ending the Cougars chance for their first win in four matches.

Dan Durham led MRU with 22 kills and two blocks while Lucas Stepanko added 13 kills – in what was another legendary match between the two schools who have combined for 13 out of the past 15 ACAC men’s volleyball championships.

On Saturday it seemed like the Cougars had nothing left in the tank, after leaving it all out on the floor on Friday.

Despite playing at home, it was the Red Deer Kings, who looked the most comfortable, grabbing an early lead and never letting go, winning in straight sets 25-21, 28-18 and 25-22.

Taylor Hunt was back on the offensive, reigning down another 20 kills, while the Cougars were again led by Durham and Stepanko who totaled 20 kills of their own.

With the weekend losses the Cougars currently sit in 11th place with three games remaining.

With only ten teams making the ACAC playoffs, the Cougar men need a weekend sweep versus Grand Prairie and a victory next Tuesday over Augustana if they have visions of making post-season play.