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The University of Regina's volleyball teams are at home for the second weekend in a row, with the Cougars scheduled to host Mount Royal on Friday and Saturday night at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

First serve is scheduled for 6 p.m. on both nights, with the women playing in the first match on Friday and the men's teams kicking if off on Saturday. Friday's two matches will be rebroadcast by Access7 beginning on Sunday at 8:30 p.m.

Live webcasts for all four matches will be available at www.canadawest.tv.

Women's Preview
Despite a fine offensive weekend from Desiree Ates, the Cougars (3-11) are coming off of two four-set losses to No. 9-ranked UBC Okanagan – the U of R's first two matches of the Canada West schedule since the December break.

Ates piled up 31 kills and a team-high .295 hitting percentage over the two matches and was solid defensively as well, tying Tori Glynn and Megan Semeniuk for the team lead with 17 digs. In her first season with the Cougars but in her fourth year of CIS eligibility, Ates now ranks fourth in Canada West with 163 kills on the season.

Ates and Semeniuk are also tied for the U of R's season led in digs, as both players have collected 107 in the team's first 14 Canada West matches. Michelle Sweeting leads the Cougars with a .279 hitting percentage and is just two service aces short of Tara Smart's school single-season record of 28 set during the 2002-03 campaign.

The Cougars are still alive in the Canada West playoff hunt, but need a serious run over the final eight matches of the conference schedule to vault into one of the seven conference playoff spots. That run needs to start this weekend against Mount Royal, a team which is 10-4 on the season and beat the U of R in straight sets at the non-conference New Year's Classic in Edmonton earlier this month.

Rookie left side Carolyn O'dwyer has been Mount Royal's statistical leader this season, ranking third in the conference in kills (180) and ninth in Canada West with a team-high 2.91 digs per set. Julia Pasieka and Olivia Grecu are also in triple digits in kills for the season, while Pasieka is the team's leader at the net with 48 blocks.

Men's Preview
The Cougars (2-12) suffered two losses to UBC Okanagan last weekend, including a heartbreaking five-set setback to the Heat on Sunday in which they marched all the way back from a 2-0 deficit to win the third and fourth sets but lost the deciding set by a 15-11 margin.

The U of R's offensive catalyst was again second-year right side Andrew Nelson, as he collected 37 over the course of the two matches against UBC Okanagan – an average of 4.11 per set. Nelson ranks sixth in Canada West with an average of 3.39 kills per set for the season, while Rhodri Simmonds is second in the conference with an average of 0.34 service aces per set and needs just one more ace to set the U of R's single-season record.

With Jacques Borgeaud unavailable due to injury, head coach Greg Barthel used his older brother Andre Borgeaud at libero on Saturday but switched things up on Sunday. Borgeaud served as libero in the first set before Barthel moved him to outside hitter in an attempt to spark the offence, with Ryan Cherwaty and Carter Howe both getting a chance to wear the alternate uniform over the rest of the match.

Mount Royal (5-9) is challenging for a playoff position in its first season in the conference, as the Cougars enter the weekend tied for eighth place in the Canada West standings and just two wins behind seventh-place Winnipeg.

Fourth-year left side Colton deMan has been brilliant for Mount Royal this season, as he leads the entire conference with 229 kills and is also tied with libero Colton Smethurst for the team lead with 110 digs. deMan and Jordan Parkin are the team's top two options on the outside, as the duo has accounted for over 54% of the team's total attacks this season.

The two teams have met twice in non-conference play this season, with Mount Royal winning in straight sets back in October at the Cougar Invitational and again in three sets two weeks ago at the Winter Volleyball Classic in Calgary.