The University of Regina's women's volleyball team put the finishing touches on a brilliant regular season with a four-set road win over Manitoba on Saturday night at the Investors Group Athletic Centre.
The Cougars (16-8) finish the Canada West schedule with the most wins in team history and the second best winning percentage (.667) since the program's inception in 1973. They also won each of their final 10 conference games, also the longest winning streak in program history.
"It's amazing to see how well the team has done," Cougars head coach
Melanie Sanford said. "I'm exceptionally proud of them and thrilled with our improvement in the second half of the season. We have more work to do, but it's important to acknowledge this moment today."
Saturday's game saw the Cougars jump out to a commanding 2-0 lead in the match with convincing 25-11 and 25-18 wins in the first two sets. Manitoba extended the match by outlasting the Cougars by a 25-23 margin in the third, but Regina jumped ahead early in the fourth and clinched the match with a 25-21 victory.
Ashlee Sandiford and
Jessica Lerminiaux both had 16 kills to lead the Cougars, but second-year middle
Emma Matheson also had a big match with 10 kills and a .526 hitting percentage.
Taylor Ungar's total of 29 digs breaks her own U of R record for most in a four-set match, while
Satomi Togawa finished with 51 assists and nine digs.
Sandiford, who also had 16 digs and four aces in the win, goes into the record books with 798 career kills. That's the fourth highest total in U of R rally-point era history, trailing only
Michelle Sweeting, Beth Clark, and Tammy Jule.
Manitoba (11-11) was led by Kearley Abbott's 12 kills and 14 digs.
With one week still to go on the Canada West schedule, the Cougars are the first team in the conference to finish their 24-game schedule. They're currently in fourth place in the Canada West standings, but will need a Calgary sweep over UBC next weekend to avoid falling into fifth and hitting the road for the Canada West quarterfinals.
