The University of Regina's women's volleyball team returns to the Canada West schedule this weekend with matches on Friday (6:15 p.m.) and Saturday (8 p.m.) against the No. 6-ranked Manitoba Bisons at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.
 
The Cougars returned to action from the December break last weekend, as the team travelled to Edmonton to compete in the non-conference New Year's Classic. Regina went 1-2 over the weekend, losing to the University of Tsukuba (Japan) and host Alberta but finishing off the tournament with a four-set win over conference newcomer UBC Okanagan.
 
After the tournament, Tsukuba's team travelled back to Regina on the bus with the Cougars. Tsukuba's team members trained and stayed with the Cougars for three days as the U of R prepared for this weekend's home games.

But now it's back to the gauntlet that is the Canada West schedule this weekend, and the Cougars (2-10) currently sit four wins back of a postseason berth with eight matches to go. Calgary and Brandon are tied for sixth in the conference with identical 6-6 records, and Regina will need to reel in one of those two teams – and pass Thompson Rivers (4-8) and UBC Okanagan (2-8) along the way – if the Cougars hope to qualify for the conference playoffs.

Fifth-year outside hitter Meagan Onstad leads the Cougars with 141 kills and an average of 3.13 kills per set this season, while Solveig Nilson has a team-high .299 hitting percentage and the team lead with 45 blocks and setter Tiffany Herman averages 9.33 assists per set.

Fifth-year libero Rebecca Rink has a team-leading 127 digs this year and needs just three more to hit the 600 mark for her career.

Manitoba comes into Friday mired in a three-way tie with Trinity Western and Alberta for third place in the conference standings. The Bisons feature the conference's leader in kills per set (Kristi Hunter, 3.44) as well as Canada West's leader in blocks per set (Jordana Milne, 1.35) and the No. 2-ranked player in digs per set (Nicole Hall, 4.18).

Manitoba and Regina met once in non-conference play, with the Bisons coming away with a four-set win back on Sept. 24 at the University of Regina Invitational.

After this weekend, the Cougars have road weekends at UBC Okanagan (Jan. 27 and Jan. 28) and at Alberta (Feb. 3 and Feb. 4) and a home weekend against Calgary (Feb. 10 and Feb. 11) remaining on the conference schedule.

NOTES: Both matches this weekend will be webcast live at www.canadawest.tv.