The University of Regina's women's volleyball team put another crucial tally in the win column on Friday night after outlasting MacEwan for a five-set victory in Edmonton.
 
MacEwan opened up the match with a 25-20 in the first, but the Cougars came back with 25-23 and 25-22 wins in the second and the third. MacEwan cruised to a 25-19 win in the fourth to force a deciding set, but the Cougars took control of the fifth with five consecutive early points and led the rest of the way, closing out the match with help from a pair of Ashlee Sandiford kills and putting the finishing touches on the win with another kill by Jessica Lerminiaux.
 
The victory pulls the Cougars into sole possession of fifth place in the Canada West standings. The Cougars (10-9) entered Friday tied with Alberta and Saskatchewan, but the Pandas are idle this weekend and the Huskies lost to UBC Okanagan to fall to 9-10.
 
Fourth-year libero Taylor Ungar sparkled defensively once again for the Cougars, breaking her own Canada West record for most digs in a match after piling up an incredible 40 digs in the win. Sandiford led the way with 20 kills and added 15 digs for Regina, while Lerminiaux added 14 kills and 15 digs. Kathleen Ens added seven kills, a match-high six blocks, three service aces, and was on the baseline for the U of R's critical run early in the fifth set.
 
Cassidy Kinsella finished with 20 kills for MacEwan in the loss, while libero Zoe Cronin was almost as impressive as Ungar and finished with 37 digs.
 
The two teams will meet again on Saturday night in Edmonton.

WVB | Check out Jessica Lerminiaux's match-clinching kill from last night's five-set win over @MacEwanGriffins! #WeAreUofR pic.twitter.com/hIlyvcIJKw

— U of R Cougars (@ReginaCougars) January 27, 2018