Cougars Catchup: February 19, 2024

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 | Box Score 3 | Box Score 4

Scatcherd, Boyd shine but the Cougars fall to TRU on final weekend of the season

The Mount Royal Cougars women’s volleyball season came to a close over the weekend with the team visiting the Thompson Rivers University Wolfpack in Kamloops.

Going into the weekend, MRU held a slim chance of cracking into the Canada West playoff picture and needed to win both of their games against the Wolfpack. 

Despite the Cougars’ best efforts, the team fell to TRU in both games.

On Friday, Mount Royal took the Wolfpack to five sets with a gutsy performance on the court.

After dropping the first set, the Cougars regrouped to take the second. Mya Morgan and Emma Boyd found success running the offence through the middle. Setter Lexi Herrod was not afraid to feed her two hard-hitting middle-blockers as MRU looked to carry their momentum into the third.

The third set was arguably the most entertaining that we’ve seen from the Cougars this season. Morgan recorded eight kills in the set and her teammate to the left, Sydney Scatcherd could not be contained by the Wolfpack.

The score pushed into the twenties with the Wolfpack reaching their first set point. Narrowly leading 24-23, TRU was inches away from stealing the set. However, the Cougars had different plans.

A was-and-forth rally that went beyond a minute long with multiple clutch digs from Scatcherd and Fiona Brown eventually went in the Cougars’ favour, tying the score at 24. The Wolfpack regained the lead again, bringing up their second set point. Again, Mount Royal would battle back. The Cougars strung together three straight points to win the set. Mya Morgan’s set-clinching block sent MRU into elation.

Somehow, the Wolfpack gathered themselves to force a fifth set and ultimately prevailed to win the game 3-2 (23-25, 25-22, 27-25, 14-25, 7-15), ending the Cougars’ playoff hopes. 

Morgan set a career-high with 14 kills while Sydney Scatcherd tied her career-best 16 kills.

Saturday’s game would be an emotional one for MRU. Graduating players Jessica Osczevski and Sarah McKillican took the court for the final time in a Cougar uniform.

Oscczevski and McKillican each started exceptionally for MRU. Osczevski showed her power on offence while McKillican remained sturdy and reliable in the Cougars back row, as she’s done all year long.

The Cougars fell in the first set but were able to even it up with a win in the second. Osczevski continued her dominating performance while floating in a few aces on the Wolfpack. The team captain totalled 52 service aces during the 2023-24 season, ranking her second in Canada West.

Thompson Rivers returned to form, taking sets three and four and capturing victory in the season finale.

In a year where the Cougars weren’t expected to win many games, the team fought hard every set and left it all out on the court until the final time the ball hit the floor. 

Cougars lock up second in the conference with a split against TRU

The MRU Cougars men’s volleyball team wrapped up their memorable regular season with a weekend in Kamloops against the TRU Wolfpack.

On Friday, the Wolfpack came out blazing. TRU was filled with emotion as they honoured their senior class before the opening serve. A key member of the graduating class, Riley Brinnen, was present as he continues to recover from injuries sustained in a tragic car crash on November 29.

Inspired by Brinnen’s presence, the Wolfpack claimed wins in the first two sets. The struggling Cougars scrambled for answers to hopefully claw back.

In the third set, Mount Royal found the answers and kept the game going. Rolling into the fourth set, the Cougars dominated and won 25-9, their largest set win of the year. MRU had come all the way back to force a deciding fifth set.

Down to the wire, the Wolfpack regrouped to pull out the win. The victory for TRU meant their playoff hopes were still alive. For the Cougars, the loss locked in second place in the conference. 

Chris Byam recorded a team-best 19 kills while Max Haronga set a season-high with five aces.

Determined to flow into the playoffs on a good note, MRU returned to their elite form on Saturday.

After the Wolfpack took the first set, the Cougars rallied to win the next three to come away with three points.

Jacob van Geel had his best offensive performance since returning from injury, registering 14 kills. Luis Lange also had 14 kills and added four blocks.

Lange reigns as the MRU Cougars block king, totalling 316 stuffs in his Mount Royal tenure which ranks him number one in program history. His 93 blocks this season are also the MRU  single-season record. 

Chris Byam somehow bested his own single-season kill recorded set last year by hammering down 378 kills this year. Byam’s tally total finishes him third in Canada West for kills. The Cougars’ captain also set a program record with 35 aces in one season and tied him with Cougar great Tyler Schmidt with 103 career aces.

Lange, Byam and others put a cap on their regular season stats for their careers but are not finished in a Cougar uniform. Mount Royal will begin their championship quest when they host the University of Winnipeg Wesmen in the Canada West quarter-finals.

Next Weekend

The men’s volleyball team’s best-of-three series against Winnipeg begins Friday night at Kenyon Court, with game two on Saturday and three on Sunday, if needed. Tickets can be purchased online.

MRU’s men’s basketball team heads east to the Canada West playoff tournament hosted by the University of Manitoba. They’ll take on the Alberta Golden Bears in the play-in game on Wednesday. 

The women’s basketball team goes west to the playoff tournament in Abbotsford, hosted by the University of Fraser Valley. The women’s team will also play Alberta on Wednesday in the play-in.

After sweeping their opponents in the quarter-final, both MRU hockey teams moved on to the Canada West semis. The men’s team won’t have to go far as they visit the Calgary Dinos in a playoff edition of the Crowchild Classic. Game one is on Thursday. The women’s team will hop on the bus and travel up the QE2 for a date with the Alberta Pandas, a rematch of last year’s semi-final. Game one is on Friday.

All Cougars playoff games can be streamed live on Canada West TV.