Cougars kill their way to 3-0 win against Griffins

Box Score

As the Cougars men’s hockey team battled with the Dinos in the Crowchild Classic at the Scotiabank Saddledome, the women’s volleyball team hosted the MacEwan University Griffins on Kenyon Court. With an onslaught of unstoppable kills and a team-wide relentless digging effort, the Cougars defended their homecourt and swept the Griffins in three sets (25-20, 25-20, 25-21).

Grace Coulter and Bronwynn Davies-Neira opened the Cougars’ scoring tab in the first set and gave MRU a 2-0 lead early, but the Griffins soon fought back to take a 6-5 lead. The two sides played completely different styles, as MRU’s powerful shots proved difficult to block while MacEwan’s precise floaters seemed impossible to dig. The rallies became longer as the set wore on, but MRU took control of the game and used their hustle to their advantage to take a late 20-19 lead and force a MacEwan timeout. That didn’t deter the Cougars, who scored a pair of points and forced yet another late timeout from the Griffins. MacEwan scored one more point but could not retake the lead as the Cougars’ clutch play helped them secure a 25-20 win in the first set.

MRU carried their first-set victory momentum with them into the opening stages of the second, enacting a 6-2 run with ease. Paige Davidson dove onto the Kenyon Court hardwood to make a number of key digs, helping her team maintain their lead as the Griffins tried to fight back into the set. That made the powerful kills from Davies-Neira, Emma Boyd and Sydney Scatcherd all the more impactful as MRU expanded their lead to 14-8 and forced a MacEwan timeout. The Griffins scored coming out of their discussion, but failed to overcome their deficit as the Cougars scored a series of scintillating kills on their way to a 25-20 second-set victory.

The third set opened in a dead heat with both sides trading points until the 4-4 mark. Attack errors from the Griffins and tremendous defensive execution from the Cougars allowed MRU to open a two-point lead, which eventually ballooned into a 17-11 advantage and forced a Griffins timeout. The Griffins scored a pair of points after their talk, but the Cougars returned fire with a deuce of their own. MacEwan closed the gap to just three points late in the set but were unable to complete their comeback as MRU took a 25-21 victory in the final set and 3-0 match win.

Paige Davidson’s hustle on defense earned her Player of the Game honours as she posted a game-high 14 digs. She also contributed one kill and one assist on the offensive end.

The MRU Cougars women’s volleyball team will be back in action on Saturday, Feb. 1 to take on the MacEwan University Griffins at 5 p.m. on Kenyon Court and live on Canada West TV.