WVB: Huskies Fall Short to MRU in Weekend Series

Box Score

SASKATOON, SK – After a tough loss Friday evening in five sets, the Saskatchewan Huskies were hopeful to turn things around to split the series. The Huskies opened the match with a 25-15 set win, taking the lead off the hop, but the Mount Royal Cougars would find their footing and defeat the Huskies 3-1 (15-25, 25-17, 25-16, 25-22) for their second straight win of the weekend, sweeping the Huskies.

THE HIGHLIGHTS

• After giving up the first set on Friday, the Huskies flexed their muscle in today’s opening set. Keely Anderson’s five kills propelled Saskatchewan to a comfortable win and a 1-0 set lead.

• Despite looking like a shell of themselves in the first, the Cougars rebounded in the second, jumping to a 10-3 lead. Huskies’ head coach, Mark Dodds, was forced to call a timeout and successfully put a stop to the Mount Royal run, putting together a three-point run.

• Mount Royal led early in the third but had the momentum swiftly stolen after a strong attack streak by the Huskies. The two teams went kill-for-kill for some time; however, MRU strung together a run to put the set out of reach for Saskatchewan and took another commanding win.

• Although applying some pressure on MRU in the fourth set, the Huskies needed help finding their spot when attacking and looked out-of-sync on the back half of a tough road trip through the frigid western prairies. Keely Anderson and Abbey Klein provided bright spots for Saskatchewan but the game was ultimately secured by Mount Royal.
   

THE STATS

• Saskatchewan’s Keely Anderson would lead the match in kills, getting 12 swings past MRU.

• Mya Morgan and Emma Boyd would lead the Cougars in kills with 10 each.

• Saskatchewan would have 8.0 total team blocks, and Mount Royal with 8.0 as well.

• Mount Royal’s Lexi Herrod and Sarah McKillican would lead in digs, putting up 9 balls each off of Huskie swings. Olivia Mattern (SSK) would follow close behind with 8 digs.
   

THE STANDINGS
The loss will put the Huskies’ record at 5-11, while the win will improve the Cougars to 4-12.

NEXT UP
The Huskies are returning home next weekend to Ron & Jane Graham Centre Court at the Physical Activity Complex to take on prairie rival Regina Cougars in the volleyball edition of the U-Prairie Challenge presented by SaskMilk. The two teams will hit the court on Friday, January 19, at 6:00 PM and Saturday, January 20 at 3:00 PM.