The Mount Royal University Cougars women’s volleyball team transformed in front of their fans’ eyes this season, improving from their 8-16 record in 2023-24 to an impressive 12-8 record this year. Under the leadership of former professional player Rhonda Schmuland in her first year as a head coach at the U SPORTS level, the Cougars played disciplined, high-energy volleyball all season long and locked up the sixth seed in Canada West. That sets them up for a first-round Quarterfinals series against the defending championship winners, the University of Manitoba Bisons, which starts on Thursday Feb. 27 at 5 p.m. MT in Winnipeg and live on Canada West TV.
Turning the tides
In this year’s Canada West Preseason Coaches Poll, the Cougars were projected to finish with the ninth-best record in the conference. That inspired MRU’s players and coaches, who executed brilliantly and finished the year with a 12-8 record, including 8-2 on the road, to rank sixth in Canada West.
One of the biggest reasons for their success comes from Schmuland’s tutelage. At the beginning of the season, middle blocker Mya Morgan was already feeling the impact of having a woman and consummate professional at the helm of the team.
“First of all, I absolutely love Rhonda,” Morgan said. “She’s very understanding of the emotional aspect of being a woman in sport because obviously that’s a whole different thing, especially when it’s a team of 16 young women.”
Schmuland’s approach was all-rounded, taking much more into account than just X’s and O’s and showing the team she truly cared about each and every one of the athletes.
“She’s very involved in making sure that we’re eating enough because quite frankly, a lot of us are not eating nearly enough. As athletes, you’re supposed to be eating more, which as women, you’re never told to do that.”
One of Shmuland’s points of emphasis was the Cougars’ tendency to play in four- and five-set matches. She prepared her team to withstand the rigors of long games before the season started and, after playing the tenth-most sets of any team in the conference, the rewards have paid off.
“We’ve accepted now that if we want to be a super successful team, that we’re probably going to be a five setting team,” Morgan said. “If we want to get wins on the board, we will have to be a team that’s gonna fight and have high stamina.”
Of their 11 wins, eight have come in matches that lasted longer than three sets. In fact, the Cougars have only lost one four-plus-set game the entire season. That incredible record came at the cost of the athlete’s blood, sweat and tears on the practice court and in the fitness room.
“Now we lift three times a week instead of two, and we practice six times a week instead of five. On top of that, [Schmuland] definitely does a lot of stamina training in practice and at tournaments, so she’s been kind of training us to be able to withstand that long. If it goes to a five set two days in a row, that we can withstand that and that we can still play through that.”
2024-25 Canada West Preseason Coaches Poll:
Team – Points (First-place votes)
Manitoba Bisons – 162 (9)
Alberta Pandas – 151 (2)
UBC Thunderbirds – 150 (3)
Trinity Western Spartans – 130
Thompson Rivers WolfPack – 120
UFV Cascades – 110
UBC Okanagan Heat – 100
Winnipeg Wesmen – 76
Mount Royal Cougars – 66
Calgary Dinos – 62
Saskatchewan Huskies – 54
MacEwan Griffins – 54
Regina Cougars – 21
Brandon Bobcats – 18
2024-25 Canada West Regular Season Final Standings
UFV 17-3 (50.0 PTS)
Alberta 17-3 (47.0 PTS)
Manitoba 16-4 (49.0 PTS)
UBC 15-5 (45.0 PTS)
Thompson Rivers 13-7 (40.0 PTS)
Mount Royal 12-8 (33.0 PTS)
Winnipeg 10-10 (33.0 PTS)
Saskatchewan 10-10 (31.0 PTS)
Trinity Western 8-12 (25.0 PTS)
Calgary 7-13 (22.0 PTS)
UBC Okanagan 6-14 (20.0 PTS)
Regina 4-16 (12.0 PTS)
MacEwan 3-17 (7.0 PTS)
Brandon 2-18 (6.0 PTS)
A United Front
Emma Boyd was the “key performer” in our season preview and led the team brilliantly as one of three fourth-year players on the Cougars’ roster. With the second most service aces of any player in the conference (46) and fourth-fewest errors (50), Boyd was trustworthy anywhere on the hardwood. She finished the season with 140 kills, 73 digs, eight solo blocks, 43 block assists, and 215.5 points, all of which ranked in the Cougars’ top three in each category.
However, it would be impossible to discuss the Cougars’ successes this season without mentioning the explosive duo of Bronwynn Davies-Neira, who was a force of nature on both ends of the ball as she led the team with 181 kills and 163 digs. Davies-Neira’s spikes were among the most powerful in the conference, producing hits that were nearly impossible for defences to cleanly block or dig.
Morgan stood tallest on the Cougars’ front line on defence, using her 5’11” frame to lead the team with 10 solo blocks and 54 block assists for a total of 64 rejections. She wasn’t just a one-dimensional specialist either, scoring the fourth-most kills (125) and serving up the fifth-most aces (17).
Libero Paige Davidson dug out 141 opposing attacks, the second-most on the team, while Lexi Herrod averaged the fourth-most assists per set in the conference (8.83) and finished the season with the sixth-most total assists in Canada West (583).
Fresh faces fitting in flawlessly
With Schmuland came the addition of a slew of new faces, most notable of which was third-year outside hitter Grace Coulter. After transferring from the SAIT Trojans, Coulter had an immediate impact on the offensive end, finishing four games with double-digit kills. She was also key on the defensive end, racking up at least seven digs in six games, including two nine-dig performances.
Taryn Sieben, Awien Ngor and Raven Ogbodu also made their MRU debuts this season and provided well-needed depth while also showing that the future of this team will continue to be bright in future years.
Check out the team’s statistical leaders in each category and MRU’s overall statistical rankings below.
2024-25 Canada West Regular Season Statistical Leaders:
2024-25 CW regular season leaders: Sets played
Mya Morgan/Emma Boyd – 72
2024-25 CW regular season leaders: Kills (per set)
Bronywnn Davies-Neira – 181 (2.55)
2024-25 CW regular season leaders: Total attacks (kill percentage)
Bronwynn Davies-Neira – 551 (14.5%)
2024-25 CW regular season leaders: Assists (per set)
Lexi Herrod – 583 (8.83)
2024-25 CW regular season leaders: Serve aces (per set)
Emma Boyd – 46 (0.64)
2024-25 CW regular season leaders: Serve receptions
Sydney Scatcherd – 414
2024-25 CW regular season leaders: Digs (per set)
Bronwynn Davies-Neira – 163 (2.3)
2024-25 CW regular season leaders: Solo blocks
Mya Morgan – 10
2024-25 CW regular season leaders: Block assists
Mya Morgan – 54
2024-25 CW regular season leaders: Total blocks (per set)
Mya Morgan – 64 (0.89)
2024-25 CW regular season leaders: Points (per set)
Bronywnn Davies-Neira – 221 (3.1)
2024-25 Canada West Regular Season Rankings
10th in Sets (72)
9th in Kills (810)
9th in Kills per set (11.25)
4th in Errors (404)
7th in Total Attacks (2285)
9th in Hitting Percentage (.178)
9th in Assists (730)
9th in Assists per set (10.14)
4th in Service Aces (147)
2nd in Service Errors (269)
4th in Service Aces per set (2.04)
6th in Receptions (1408)
6th in Reception Errors (146)
8th in Digs (900)
8th in Digs per set (12.50)
11th in Block Solo (24)
12th in Block Assist (199)
13th in Block Total (124)
11th in Blocks per set (1.72)
8th in Block Errors (3)
8th in Ball Handling Errors (7)
9th in Points (1081.0)
8th in Points per set (15.0)
9th in Home Attendance (3,866)
6th in Home Attendance average (430)
Playoff preview
By finishing in sixth place, the MRU Cougars avoided the win-or-go-home Canada West Play-In round and will face the University of Manitoba Bisons in a Quarterfinal series, which starts on Thursday, Feb. 27 at 5 p.m. in Winnipeg and live on Canada West TV.
The Cougars did not play the Bisons this season. However, as the reigning Canada West champions and third-seeded team this year, Manitoba have proven they are not to be taken lightly. Historically, the Cougars have performed well against the Bisons, holding a 14-6 all-time record against them and a 7-3 record in their last 10 matchups. However, MRU has lost three in a row against Manitoba, including two regular season games last year and a U SPORTS National Championship Quarterfinal match in 2023.
This season, Manitoba are a defensive powerhouse, producing the third-most digs (1089) and fourth-most blocks (146) this season while playing two more sets than the Cougars. Even though the Bisons out-rank the Cougars in almost every major statistical category, MRU leads 147-140, which is key as the Bisons struggled to receive serves effectively, tallying 199 fewer serve receptions than the Cougars.
Schmuland and her athletes have worked hard all season long to withstand long games and have won eight of their nine games that extended past the third set. Out of any team in the conference, MRU is arguably best prepared to battle with the Bisons’ stamina and attacking prowess despite being out-performed in a myriad of statistical categories. By capitalizing on service aces and finding creative ways to kill against the staunch Manitoba defence, the Cougars can emerge as victorious underdogs against the reigning Canada West champions and advance to the Semifinals for the first time since the 2022-23 season.