The University of Regina's women's volleyball team was defeated in three sets by No. 2-ranked Alberta on Friday night in Edmonton, falling by scores of 25-14, 25-22, and 25-18.
 
The Cougars fall to 6-13 on the season with the loss and remain in 11th place in the Canada West standings, three wins back of Manitoba (9-10) for the seventh and final postseason spot with five matches remaining on the conference schedule.
 
Meg Casault led Alberta with 12 kills, but both Josephine Doerfler and Dione Lang hit over .500 for the Pandas in the win. Doerfler had nine kills and hit .562, while Lang was just behind with eight kills and a .538 hitting percentage. Mariah Walsh had 29 assists for Alberta, with libero Jessie Niles collecting 12 digs to lead all players.
 
Michelle Sweeting had nine kills, six blocks, and five digs for the Cougars as the fifth-year veteran continues to climb the school's career lists in several categories. She passed Tammy Julé for second on the U of R's career kills list and is now just 16 away from all-time leader Beth Clark. She's also now only five blocks away from passing Clark as the school's all-time blocks leader.
 
Second-year setter Leah Shevkenek had 22 assists and also led the Cougars with 11 digs while adding four blocks.
 
Desperately in need of a weekend split to help their postseason chances, the Cougars will get another shot at Alberta on Saturday night (7:30 MST, canadawest.tv).