The University of Regina's women's volleyball team plays at home for the first time during the Canada West schedule this weekend with two matches against Winnipeg at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.
 
The women play first on both nights, with Friday's match scheduled for 6 p.m. and Saturday's first serve set for 5 p.m.
 
Though the Cougars graduated outside hitter Desiree Ates and libero Megan Semeniuk following last season, they return five starters from that team – all of which will be counted upon to again play big roles for the U of R this year. Leading the way is fifth-year middle Michelle Sweeting, a Canada West all-star last year who's already leading the team in kills and is hitting .320 for the season.
 
Molly Wade-Cummings enters her third season with the Cougars and her second as a starting middle and is leading the team with 13 blocks this season, while setter Leah Shevkenek, right side Chelsea Ziolkowski, and outside hitter Tori Glynn also reclaim their starting positions. Shevkenek is coming off a stellar rookie season which saw her set the conference single-season assists record while being named the Canada West Rookie of the Year and a CIS All-Rookie Team member.
 
With Ates gone, it's been Jenna Krahn and Lindsay Braul that have seen the most significant increase in playing time. After playing in a total of 11 matches over her first two seasons of CIS eligibility, Krahn has stepped into the lineup for the Cougars and has five kills, three digs, and three blocks in two starts at outside hitter. Braul has taken over as the team's libero, recording 19 digs in the first seven sets of the schedule.
 
The Cougars also played a pair of rookies last weekend, which saw the Cougars (0-2) lose to Manitoba in three sets on Friday and in four sets on Saturday afternoon. Taylor Ungar was brought into serve late in four of the team's seven sets, while Kristine Ward actually played the majority of Saturday's game at outside hitter and finished with six kills and a .417 hitting percentage.
 
Winnipeg (3-1) comes in riding a three-match winning streak after opening the Canada West schedule with a five-set loss to Saskatchewan, but defeating the Huskies the next night and sweeping MacEwan for a pair of wins last weekend. Ozana Nikolic was thought to be Winnipeg's top returning player after earning a Canada West second-team all-star nomination last year, but has yet to play a conference game due to injury. Used almost exclusively as a libero last year, Tia Boroski is new one of Winnipeg's main options on the outside along with Hailey Buhler and Mackenzie Jeffrey. Also playing a key role in the Wesmen offence is middle Chelsea Jones, who has 38 kills and a team-leading .262 hitting percentage.
 
All of this weekend's matches will be webcast live at www.canadawest.tv.