MVB: Cougars left heartbroken after 0-3 Valentine’s Day loss to Golden Bears

On a cold, snowy Friday night, the MRU Cougars men’s volleyball team hosted the University of Alberta Golden Bears on Kenyon Court with hopes of making a late push for the final playoff spot in the division. To make the playoffs, MRU needed to win this game and their next while TRU and UFV would need to lose their final two matches of the season. However, facing the Golden Bears on the volleyball court is no easy task and even though MRU put up a solid fight in each set, Alberta handed the Cougars a 0-3 match loss (19-25, 16-25, 14-25).

The Cougars opened the first set of the night with a service error from Grant Hill, but the Golden Bears returned fire with a mistake of their own. After yet another MRU service error, a rally finally broke out between the two sides, but it ended in a block for the Golden Bears on a kill attempt from Ryan John. The Cougars’ powerful kill attempts kept them close through the early stages of the set, but MRU could not steal the lead from Alberta and their strong defensive front line. MRU never fell behind by more than six points as the Golden Bears blocked their way to a 25-19 first-set victory.

John emerged as the lead killer for MRU in the first set, picking up three kills on seven attack attempts, making only two attacking errors and scoring a team-high three points. However, MRU’s offense was stumped by the verticality of Alberta’s defense, who picked up six block assists and a solo block in the first set. 

MRU tipped off the second set with a 2-0 run, but were soon countered by a 4-2 run from Alberta, bringing the game to a 4-4 tie. John stayed hot, doing damage from the back row of the Cougars’ formation to keep his team in the lead. However, the Golden Bears would not go away, keeping the point differential low with their exceptional blocking. That defensive energy propelled Alberta into a 4-0 run, giving them a 10-7 lead and forcing Shawn Sky to use a timeout. 

The Golden Bears continued to add to their lead after the timeout, scoring two to three points for every Cougar point and even picking up the first ace of the game to take a 14-8 lead and force yet another Sky timeout. With no timeouts to stop the bleeding, Sky dug deep into his rotation, pulling Calum Stewart off the bench. Stewart made the most of his opportunity, scoring a kill almost immediately and providing pressure with his high-flying attack attempts. 

Still, the Golden Bears used a combination of well-timed kill attempts and staunch blocking to open up a double-digit lead and eventually win the set 25-16. 

Cody Hudson and Paul Dionne each picked up a trio of kills in the second set to help the Cougars’ offensive efforts. Dionne and Aidan Roberts also picked up a block assist each on MRU’s first block of the game.

The Golden Bears started the third set on a 5-1 run before John fired a kill through the centre of their defence. With the score at 7-2, the Cougars withstood a long rally as they hustled to dig out a series of Alberta attacks and stood tall on the front line to deflect kills away. The Golden Bears expanded their lead to 10-6 and forced an MRU timeout. Hudson came out of the discussion on fire, scoring two consecutive service aces as MRU closed the gap to 10-8. The Golden Bears snapped back to life, scoring three unanswered points to retake their five–point advantage. Alberta held their advantage for the rest of the set, even holding a double-digit lead as they won the final set 25-14 and swept the Cougars 3-0. 

Matthew Clements was named Player of the Game for his incredible defensive efforts as he dug out four Golden Bear attacks and received 17 serves with only one error. 

The Cougars men’s volleyball team will play their final game of the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 15 against the University of Alberta Golden Bears at 7 p.m. on Kenyon Court and live on Canada West TV.