Women stay on top; men drop

With only two matches left before the winter semester break, the Cougars women’s volleyball team looks poised to finish the first half of the season undefeated.

Already sporting a perfect 6-0 record heading into their weekend versus the Briercrest Clippers, the Cougar women have looked like one of the nation’s best teams, dropping only two sets all season thus far.

On Friday and Saturday the story was no different. Using a powerful offence, strong defence and a plethora of service aces, the Cougar women were able to dispel of the Clippers in relatively easy fashion on Friday, winning in straight sets 25-15,25-18 and 25-13.

Andrea Price continues to look like one of the most powerful offensive weapons in the conference, registering another 13 kills to go along with eight digs, while teammate Diyon Van Nistelrooy led the way with her elusive serve, tallying four services in the win.

In Saturday afternoon’s rematch, the Clippers once again looked overmatched as the Cougars continued to turn up the heat, making short work of the opposition, once again winning in straight sets 25-12, 25-21 and 25-20.

Juila Pasieka and Breanna Estabrook led the charge on Saturday, registering 12 and 10 kills respectively, while combining for three service aces and nine digs. Pasieka also added in four solo blocks, as the talented middle continues to lead the league in blocks per set (bps), averaging 1.0 bps.

With the pair of weekend wins, the Cougars improved to 8-0 on the season, with only a pair of matches versus the 4-1 King’s University College Eagles, left on the schedule.

Cougar Men
In Cougars men’s volleyball action, the team will continue to search for answers after a pair of losses versus the Briercrest Clipper men.

Sporting a less than full lineup after an array of injuries over the past few weeks, the Cougar men put up a resilient fight, but at the end of the day were overmatched against a tough Briercrest squad.

In Friday’s 3-1 loss, Dan Durham continue to look like a monster on the offensive end, tallying a game-high 19 kills, but was also having trouble with his serve, registering six of the teams 17 service errors.

Teammate Coleton deMan also looked strong registering ten kills and seven digs, as the Cougars dropped sets 25-22, 27-25 and 25-19, winning the second set 28-26.

On Saturday, the Cougars continued to fight, but the offensive firepower from a night earlier seem to dry up, as no Cougar registered more than ten kills in the match, with only Durham and deMan racking up more than five kills.

25-20, 25-19, 25-17 was the match score as the Cougars got swept in the rematch, dropping their record to 4-4 through eight matches.

The next home date for the Cougars volleyball program is Saturday, December 4th when they take on the King’s University College Eagles. Game time for the women is at 6:00 p.m. while the men get set for 8:00 p.m. All action takes place at MRU’s Kenyon court, and will be the last game for the Cougars prior to the winter semester break.