The University of Regina's women's volleyball team won the first two sets, lost the third and fourth, but the Cougars recovered in the final set to pick up a huge Canada West road win over Saskatchewan on Saturday night in Saskatoon.
It looked like the Cougars could be well on their way to a quick victory after 25-19 and 25-22 wins in the first and the second, but the Huskies picked up a convincing 25-15 victory in the third and carried that momentum into the fourth with a 25-19 win to send it to a deciding set. In that fifth set, the blocking of
Brooklyn Reynolds (pictured) helped lift the Cougars to a 15-10 win. Reynolds, a second-year middle in her first season at the U of R, had four of her match-leading seven blocks in the fifth alone and clinched the match with a kill of her own.
The win is a huge one for Regina in terms of the conference standings and the U of R's chances of securing a playoff berth for the first time since 2014. The Cougars are now 6-8 on the season and deadlocked in a three-way tie with Mount Royal and Thompson Rivers for the eighth and final postseason position with 10 Canada West matches still remaining.
Despite the late heroics by Reynolds, it was veteran outside hitter
Ashlee Sandiford that shouldered much of the offence for Regina. Sandiford finished with a team-high 20 kills and hit .236 for the Cougars, while
Haley Wagar got the start after playing well off the bench on Friday and finished with 13 kills. The team's two middles combined for 17 kills and 11 blocks, with Reynolds collecting eight kills to go along with her seven blocks and
Kathleen Ens finishing with nine kills and four blocks.
Satomi Togawa had 49 assists in the win, while libero
Taylor Ungar piled up 20 digs.
Saskatchewan (7-7) was led by Emily Koshinsky's 23 kills.
The Cougars will now prepare for what could be a pivotal home series next weekend as they'll host one of the teams they're tied with in the conference standings. Regina and Thompson Rivers (6-8) will square off on Friday night (6:00) and Saturday night (7:00) at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport on the U of R campus.
