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It'll be a rare afternoon series this weekend for the University of Regina's women's volleyball team, as the Cougars will host Alberta on Saturday and Sunday at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport serving at 1:00 p.m. on both days.

This weekend's matches will mark the second and third times that the two teams have squared off in the last nine days, as the Cougars travelled to Edmonton last weekend to compete in the New Year's Classic hosted by Alberta. The Pandas took the tournament-opening match in three sets, winning 25-20, 25-18, 25-15.

The Cougars split their next two games at the tournament, losing to Toronto but recovering for a nice five-set win over Mount Royal on Sunday after dropping the first two sets to the Calgary-based Cougars.

The Cougars finished the first half of the schedule with a 3-9 record but are just two wins back of Mount Royal and Saskatchewan, who are deadlocked for the seventh and final Canada West playoff berth. Desiree Ates continues to rank among Canada West's leaders in kills, as the fifth-year outside hitter enters the weekend tied with UBC's Lisa Barclay with 185 on the season. Leah Shevkenek controls a U of R offence that's hitting at a middle-of-the-pack .170 clip this season, and the first-year setter ranks fourth in the conference with an average of 9.5 assists per set.

Expect middles Michelle Sweeting and Molly Wade-Cumming, outside hitter Tori Glynn, right side Chelsea Ziolkowski, and libero Megan Semeniuk to round out the starting lineup this weekend for the Cougars, who are back in action next weekend with a pair of road matches at Saskatchewan.

Alberta Pandas (6-6)
After winning all three of its matches at the New Year's Classic, Alberta nearly broke into the CIS Top Ten for the first time this season in this week's poll as the Pandas ended up with 20 votes to fall four short of No. 10-ranked Saint Mary's.

Two of the Pandas' wins came in a sweep of Thompson Rivers in mid-November and the U of A has split weekends with Brandon, Trinity Western, Manitoba, and Winnipeg so far this season. Libero Jessie Niles leads all Canada West players with an average of 4.17 digs per set, while second-year middle Jess Stroud is the conference's leader with 24 service aces.

In a scheduling quirk, it's been over four years since Alberta has played in Regina. The last time the Pandas played at the CKHS was back in November of 2009, when the two teams split a weekend series in Regina. Semeniuk is the only player remaining from either squad that played that weekend.