Cougar Student-Athlete blogs

 Road back to the Championship - Women’s Volleyball

Courtesy - Mackenzie Allen - 3rd Year Setter - Sturgeon, AB

Dear Reader:

Wow! Has the season really gone by this fast?

Well, as I am sure you have been tracking your friendly neighborhood Cougar athletic
Volleyball blog
Mackenzie Allen sets up a team mate on the way to wrapping up a second consecutive first-place season.

teams, I won’t have to tell you much about our amazing progress.

If you can believe it, the women’s volleyball team is currently in the last week of regular season play, knotted in a three-way tie for first in the league and we are also ranked second in the country (provincial and national ranking systems use different variables to account for their standings).

However, with a big victory (3-1) last night (Wednesday Feb. 8, 2012) against the SAIT Trojans and a big weekend ahead involving a home and away game vs. Lethbridge Kodiaks, we are hoping to end the regular season in sole possession of first place.

This would set us up nicely for a strong showing at the ACAC Provincial showdown in Medicine Hat during the Feb. 24, 25 weekend (if you’re passing through the Hat come check us out!).

The team is feeling strong as we enter this crucial part of our season and are looking forward to going after the Provincial title for the second year in row.

It has been a long season of blood, sweat and tears…oh, and volleyball… and we are confident that our hard work and progress have made us to be a force to be reckoned with. Keep an eye out for your Cougars in the next few weeks and cheer us on while we enter the most important part of our season.

I hope to return to you with great news and further progress as we head down the long road back to the national championship!

— Mackenzie Allen, Feb. 9, 2012

Hello all,

The women’s 2011 Volleyball season is well underway as we head into our fourth league game against the Lakeland Rustlers with an impressive record of 5-1. To bring you right back to the beginning, pre-season was very exciting for the Cougars as we spent our time training hard in the gym fostering a strong, unified group.

To sum it up we spent a weekend in Ponoka training with Grant McEwen University, flew out to chilly Winnipeg to compete in a CIS tournament coming across teams such as Brandon University, Lakehead University, University of Manitoba, University of Regina and University of Toronto.

After returning from the tough competition in Winnipeg with a 2-5 record, we went home for a fueling of Thanksgiving turkey and then back at it with a scrimmage weekend against the University of Calgary where we took them to an intense five set match.

Shortly after, our regular season started with our opener against Grand Prairie Regional College where we enjoyed not only the national championship banner raising, but a three straight win Friday night and four set win on Saturday. The following weekends opponent was the Grant McEwen Griffins where we took a victory the first night and suffered our first loss the second night. After smoothing out a couple bumps in the road the Cougars came back strong with a back-to-back win against the Augustana Vikings.

The Cougars are going steady thus far with a few new faces added to the roster including: third-year leftside transfer from GPRC Kate “power house” Porta, third-year rightside transfer Olivia Grecu from McGill University, third-year middle transfer Ashley Lundy from Medicine Hat College and lastly first-year rookie setter Jenna Smith from Beaverlodge Alberta.

Complementing these players is the returning squad of second-years Fallon Middlemiss, Castell van Paridon, Katie Benoit, Lindsey Kist, and third years Julia Pasieka, Julie Deveson, and myself Mackenzie Allen.

Head coach Sandra Lamb has partnered herself for a second year with a diverse coaching staff consisting of Steve Hart, Robert Ellis and Calvin Aubin with the addition of Brenden Ray. No season would be the same without our personal chef Heather Wishlow who provides our team with healthy, home cooked meals while we travel.

The first semester is winding down with only four more season games left before exams and to say it accurately the Cougars are ready to “rip, tear, pull hair”. 

Men's Volleyball Blog

Courtesy - Grigor Kartev - 1st Year Middle - Montpellier, France

Jordan Lantz - 3rd Year Middle - Clyde, AB

Hey All,

So this is our first blog and we just wanted to introduce you to ourselves. There are two of us here, Grigor Kartev and Jordan Lantz. Let us tell you a little bit about our lives.

My name is Grigor. I’m a 7-foot-1 Frenchman from Montpellier. I’m 19 and I’m on the Mount Royal men’s volleyball team. My previous experience includes the French Junior National Team for two years. Because of that Shawn Sky, the head coach here at Mount Royal, contacted me to come play.

Hey I’m Jordan and I am not 7-foot-1. I am from the bustling metropolis of Clyde Alberta, population 470. I am the only English student on the team so I was elected to provide support for Grigor.

Now that that is out of the way let’s look at the team as a whole. It is made up of fifteen players and two coaches. Each update we will highlight a new player.

This time we will talk about Jordan Parkin, our sick left-handed right-side who calls Calgary home.

He was instrumental in our back to back victories over last weekend’s opponent the Lakeland College Rustlers. During the double header Parkin earned Player of the Game honors both nights. These two victories put our win-loss record at 6-2 which is good enough for first in our conference, the ACAC (Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference).

Stay tuned for more exciting volleyball news with your players in the field, Grigor and Jordan!

Cheers!