Balaberda puts down 24 kills as Cougars shake up Canada West playoffs with season-ending win

QUICKLY
Bailey Balaberda had a huge night and the University of Regina’s women’s volleyball team shook up the Canada West playoff picture with a thrilling five-set win over Winnipeg on Saturday night at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

PLAYOFF IMPACT
No team was happier than Thompson Rivers with Saturday’s result. Winnipeg needed the victory to clinch the eighth and final Canada West playoff berth, but instead Regina’s win will send TRU to the postseason as the No. 8 seed.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• After losing Friday’s match in three, it was apparent from the outset that a different U of R team had shown up on Saturday. The Cougars went on an early 5-1 run and led the rest of the way, forcing Winnipeg timeouts at 11-6 and 21-16 and taking the opening set by a 25-19 margin.
• Winnipeg had its best set in the second. The Wesmen hit .184 as a team and never trailed, squaring the match with a 25-20 victory.
• The Cougars caught fire offensively in the third set, putting down 14 kills and just 1 error and hitting .419 as a team while rolling to a convincing 25-16 victory.
• Winnipeg forced two Regina timeouts during a 7-0 run midway through the fourth set that put the Wesmen up 16-12. Regina battled back to tie it up 23-23, but the Wesmen took the next two points off a service error and an attack error to take a 25-23 win and send the match to a deciding fifth set.
• The final set featured seven tie scores and a pair of lead changes, but the Cougars took charge late. Winnipeg called a timeout after Bailey Balaberda’s kill put the Cougars up 12-10 and Christine Kolbuck replied with one for the Wesmen, but it was all Regina from there. Devyn Grimsrud put down a kill, Cassadi Klapak had an ace, and the Cougars clinched the upset with a block by Grimsrud and Balaberda.

NOTES

• Balaberda finished with a career-high 24 kills, smashing her previous career high of 17. She had just one error on 52 attacks, giving her a blistering .442 hitting percentage while also collecting 15 digs and 6 blocks.
• Regina’s lone fifth-year player Dryden Gris was honoured prior to the match and responded with career highs in both kills and blocks, finishing with nine in both categories. 
• Klapak dished out 49 assists to go along with 9 digs, 5 blocks, and 3 aces.
• Grimsrud finished with nine kills, eight digs, and five blocks.
• Jordy McEachern matched Gris and Klapak with nine kills and also had eight digs.
• Regina’s libero tandem of Makenna Giesbrecht and Baillie Williams combined for 23 digs. Williams had 13 while Giesbrecht had 10.
• Winnipeg (9-15) was led by Jaya Dzikowicz’s 17 kills. Brooke Duncalfe had 15 kills and 14 digs for the Wesmen, while Taylor Cangemi led all players with 22 digs. Portia Switzer finished with 45 assists and 13 digs in her final U SPORTS match.
• The Cougars had a huge hitting advantage on Saturday, finishing with a .313 attack percentage compared to .098 for Winnipeg. Regina also had a 15-2 advantage in blocks, but committed 20 service errors to Winnipeg’s 7.