Cougars start strong, but fall in four to Calgary

QUICKLY
The University of Regina’s women’s volleyball had a strong opening set, but dropped the next three to Calgary as the Dinos took a Canada West match by a 3-1 score on Friday night at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Cougars jumped out to a 15-7 lead in the first set after Cassidy Klapak served the home side to six consecutive points. Calgary responded with a 6-0 run of its own with Evelyn Kath on serve and the Dinos eventually tied it up at 23-23 after scoring four straight points late in the set, but the Cougars got the final two points of the set with a Cassadi Klapak solo block and then a Claire Sheppard ace to clinch it.
• The next two sets couldn’t have looked any more different than the first. Calgary hit .391 as a team and rolled to a 25-9 win in the second, then the Dinos followed that up with a 25-16 victory in the third.
• The fourth set was the most hotly contested of the match, featuring 12 tie scores and 5 lead changes. Devyn Grimsrud helped the Cougars stave off two match points as she got a kill and a block after Calgary went up 24-22, but the Dinos got a Carolyn Berze kill and then clinched the win after a Regina hit into the antenna on their third attempt at match point.

NOTES

• Grimsrud led Regina with a career-high nine kills while also hitting .280 for the match and collecting four blocks.
• Cassadi Klapak had 21 assists and a team-leading 13 digs.
• Bailey Balaberda made her return to the lineup for the Cougars and had six kills and nine digs.

NEXT UP
The two teams will meet again on Saturday night at the CKHS. First serve is again set for 6:00 PM.