Box Score After their victory on Thursday afternoon, the MRU Cougars women’s volleyball team prepared to do battle once again with the Brandon University Bobcats on Kenyon Court. Thanks to a brilliant effort from the entire team, the Cougars earned their second win of the new year, sweeping the Bobcats 3-0 (25-22, 25-15, 25-16.)
The Cougars started the first set on a high note, opening their night with an 8-2 run and forcing an early Bobcats timeout. Even as the Bobcats started to find their stride, the Cougars maintained a six-point advantage for most of the set behind their hustling digging efforts, flawless communication on out-of-bounds decisions and powerful killing abilities.
Up 22-16, the Cougars conceded a 6-1 Brandon run, but Emma Boyd stopped the bleeding with a menacing kill to keep her Cougars in the driver’s seat. A long rally soon followed, but Grace Coulter ended the set with her fantastic spike off of Brandon’s blockers, giving MRU a 25-22 first-set victory. Boyd, Coulter and Sydney Scatcherd scored four kills each in the Cougars’ dominant first set, combining for 12 of MRU’s 15 first-set kills.
MRU got off to a hot start in the second set, seizing an 11-5 lead and forcing the Bobcats to call timeout. Brandon could not keep up with MRU following the timeout as the Cougars quickly expanded their lead to nine points, taking the score to 17-8. The Bobcats did their best to claw back into the game, kicking off a 4-1 run, but their efforts were shut down by back-to-back aces from Coulter.
With a 21-13 advantage, the Cougars found ways to score with their blocking and killing, eventually taking a 25-15 set victory on Faith Obasi’s perfectly placed kill. Scatcherd led the way on offence with eight kills on 12 total attack attempts through the first two sets while also receiving 22 of Brandon’s 29 serves.
The third set began with a much closer back-and-forth between the two teams as they traded points en route to a 6-6 tie. However, the Cougars soon returned to form, opening up a 3-0 run to go up 9-6 and force the Bobcats to call a timeout. However, Brandon soon erupted, scoring their way to a 13-12 lead and forcing Cougars coach Rhonda Schmuland to call her first timeout of the set.
MRU promptly responded with a 11-3 run to take a 23-16 lead and forced the Bobcats to use their final timeout of the set. However, Brandon could not complete the comeback as the MRU Cougars won the final set 25-16 and swept the Bobcats 3-0.
Coulter took home Player of the Game honours with seven kills and a game-high two assists, helping MRU’s offense play to perfection.
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