Cougars Catchup: January 8, 2024

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The MRU Cougars volleyball teams kicked off 2024 with a road trip to Langley for a couple of weekend series against the Trinity Western University Spartans. The Spartans have established themselves as a volleyball powerhouse in the Canada West conference and are recognized as one of the best programs in the entire nation. The matchup would be a tough test for the Cougars coming off the holiday break.

The men’s and women’s hockey teams endured their bye week in conference play. The free weekend allowed the men’s team to play an exhibition match against the Red Deer Polytechnic Kings. New roster additions Tanner Brown and Robert Fromm-Delorme donned the Cougars uniform for the first time and helped their new squad to a 5-4 win over the Kings.

Lange, Byam shine to earn weekend split with TWU

The Cougars men’s volleyball team opened the new year with a bang, defeating the TWU Spartans 3-0 (26-24, 30-28, 25-23) Friday night at Langley Events Centre. After reaching the 1,000 career kill mark at the end of 2023, Chris Byam continued his dominance on the right side. The team’s captain registered team-highs of 16 kills and three aces, leading MRU to their first regular season win over Trinity Western since 2015.

After Mount Royal gutted out the three-set-victory on Friday, the Spartans were able to regroup for the second match to defeat the Cougars 3-2 (25-27, 25-22, 25-20, 18-25, 13-15) in a five-set thriller. Although MRU dropped the first set to Trinity Western, the Cougars rallied to take the next two sets on the back of veteran middle Luis Lange’s impressive offensive performance. Lange tallied a season-high 15 kills in Saturday’s match. 

Along with Lange’s stellar display, rookie setter Grant Hill posted one of his finest performances as a Cougar and recorded a team-best 32 assists. 

Ultimately, the standout efforts from Lange and Hill were not enough to secure the favourable result as Trinity Western rallied back to take the final two sets to secure the home win. The Spartans’ victory snaps Mount Royal’s five-game winning streak and moves the Cougars to a 9-5 record.

Spartans remain unbeaten with two wins over Mount Royal

After a challenging first half of the season, MRU’s women’s volleyball team was dealt a tough matchup for their first games of 2024: a date with the unanimous number one team in the country, the Trinity Western Spartans.

The Cougars fell 3-1 (16-25, 25-18, 16-25, 26-28) to the Spartans on Friday night in Langley. Mount Royal was forced to play without one of their key starters, Sydney Scatcherd after the outside hitter sustained an injury while diving for a ball early in the first set. Scatcherd would unfortunately remain sidelined for the rest of the weekend.

The Cougars rebounded to take the second set of Friday’s game with captain Jessica Osczevski showcasing remarkable consistency and power from the left side. Osczevski finished with a team-high 14 kills. 

Megan Jones slotted into the other outside hitting spot with Sydney Scatcherd out of the game. Jones recorded nine kills in arguably her best performance as a Cougar.

Nevertheless, the talented Spartans team secured the win and looked to keep rolling into Saturday.

In the weekend finale, Trinity Western was able to do just that. The Spartans added their second 3-1 win (21-25, 21-25, 25-23, 17-25) improving their record to 12-0. 

Despite the loss, Cougars setter Lexi Herrod shined for her squad and dished out a game-high 38 assists. Herrod and star middle Emma Boyd have formed an exceptional partnership in the Mount Royal attack and the pair’s excellence was on full display on Saturday in Langley. Boyd tallied a campaign-best 15 kills.

However, the Spartans would cruise to the second victory and hand MRU their fifth straight defeat.

Next Weekend

Both hockey teams will be back in action next weekend as the men host the last-place Manitoba Bisons. The women’s team will make the trip to Winnipeg for a couple of games against Manitoba.

After a weekend on the road, Cougars volleyball returns to Kenyon Court for the first time in 2024 with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies visiting Mount Royal. Tickets to the games can be purchased online and all the action can be streamed live on Canada West TV.