The University of Regina’s women’s volleyball team defeated the Winnipeg Wesmen in four sets (25-18, 21-25, 25-22, 25-18) on Saturday afternoon in Winnipeg.
The Cougars lost their first two games of the playoffs to put them out of contention of moving on to the next round, but end their season on a high note with the win.
The Cougars were led offensively by Bailey Balaberda, who had a match-high 13 kills and a .407 hitting percentage. On defense, Claire Sheppard recorded a match-high seven blocks while also adding four kills. Setter Cassadi Klapak finished with a match-high 37 assists and 11 digs for the double-double, while also recording a match-high four services aces to help the Cougars finish third in their playoff pod.
Winnipeg started the first set strong, jumping out to a 9-2 lead. The Cougars responded by taking seven of the next eight points. At the technical timeout, the Cougars were down 16-14. Regina went on a huge eight-point run to jump to a 22-16 lead. Klapak had three service aces during the run and helped the Cougars take the first set 25-18.
In the middle of the second set, the Cougars went on a five-point run to lead 14-12. The Wesmen answered with multiple three-point runs to pull ahead of the Cougars. A service ace on set point by Emily Yaeger gave the Wesmen a 25-21 second set win.
The third set was back-and-forth until the Cougars went on a five-point run to go up 19-16. The two teams traded points for the rest of the set but the Wesmen could not comeback from the deficit and dropped the set 25-22.
The Cougars started the fourth set by getting the first three points. The Wesmen did not let up however, fighting back to tie it at 7-7. The Cougars took five of the next six points to lead 12-8. Winnipeg once again battled back to tie it at 13-13. The Cougars rattled off six straight points to to take a commanding 19-13 lead. The Cougars rode that run to cap off their season with a 25-18 fourth-set and match victory.
The Cougars also got contributions from Jessica Lerminiaux (12 kills, seven digs) and Katie House (11 kills, six digs, three blocks) in the final game of their Canada West careers.
Ashleigh Laube got 11 kills and 10 digs for a double-double to lead the Wesmen. Winnipeg’s Selva Planincic also got a double-double with 10 kills and 11 digs.
Both teams will be going home as only the top two teams in their four-team pod move on to the next round. The two teams moving on will be the UBC Thunderbirds and the Alberta Pandas and they play tonight (6:00 p.m. MT) to determine who finishes first in the pod.
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