Michelle Sweeting had 13 kills, 12 digs, and seven blocks as the University of Regina's women's volleyball team took a big four-set road victory over No. 9 Brandon on Saturday night.
The Cougars won by scores of 26-24, 25-17, 16-25, 25-22 to improve their Canada West record to 4-9 on the season.
Brandon jumped out to a big 15-7 lead in the first set, but the Cougars set the tone for the night with a big comeback. With long serving stints by both
Chelsea Ziolkowski and Sweeting, the Cougars put together a huge 12-2 run to turn what had been an eight-point deficit into a two-point lead. The Cougars never trailed the rest of the way, though Brandon tied it up twice before the U of R converted its second attempt at set point on a Ziolkowski ace for a 26-24 win.
The Cougars held Brandon to a negative hitting percentage in the second set, which they led from wire to wire in a 25-17 win. But those roles were reversed in the third, with Brandon limiting the Cougars to a negative percentage and forcing a fourth set with a 25-16 victory.
That set the stage for a tight fourth set in which the two teams were only separated by more than three points once, when the Cougars went up 6-2 early. The teams traded leads around the technical timeout and the Cougars took the lead for good with two straight points to break a 17-17 deadlock. The U of R clinched the match after Brandon's Courtney Roberts had a service error facing double match point.
Besides Sweeting leading all players in kills and blocks, the Cougars also had 10 kills and 11 digs from
Tori Glynn as the fourth-year outside hitter collected her fifth double-double of the Canada West schedule. Ziolkowski matched Sweeting's total of 12 digs, while libero
Lindsay Braul had a team-leading 14.
Nikki Majewski had 10 kills to lead Brandon, while Jodie Baker, Tori Dakin, and Shanlee McLennan each had nine. Donata Huebert, the reigning CIS Libero of the Year, led all players with 14 digs.
The two teams will meet again on Saturday in Brandon. First serve is scheduled for 5 p.m.
