SASKATOON, Sask.: The University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s volleyball team flipped the script this Saturday afternoon, defeating the visiting Regina Cougars in straight sets in the U-Prairie Challenge, sponsored by SaskMilk.
Less than 2024 hours after the Cougars victory on Friday, Saskatchewan looked like a different team, earning a comfortable victory and picking up a split at home. The Huskies pulled away in the first set after Abbey Klein punctuated a long rally with a cross-court kill, bringing the score to 16-9 and forcing the Cougars to call a timeout. Saskatchewan would hold the momentum, winning the first set and second sets 25-20.
The Huskies had a balanced attack, with third year setter Tielle Hagel expertly spreading the ball around to a number of Saskatchewan playmakers, keeping the Cougars on their toes all afternoon. Huskie middle Aidan Wolysn and outside Taryn Hannah were the biggest beneficiaries, tallying 10 and 12 kills respectively. On the other side of the net, Regina’s Jordan McEachern put together an impressive night, with 18 kills of her own. Despite McEachern and the Cougars efforts in the third set the Huskies were able to outlast their provincial rivals, and earn the victory, taking the final set 25-23.
After the game Saskatchewan head coach Mark Dodds reflected on his team’s improvement over the weekend.
“I think we had some nerves in that first game at home, first game of the season. We’ve got a pretty young team, so we definitely showed our nerves. We got a good sleep last night and a good morning practice and we showed up and played some good consistent volleyball. To bounce back like we did, I’m pretty proud of our team. Over the weeks and months chemistry is only going to continue to grow as we spend more time together. It’s exciting with a young team to see how quickly that can happen. Tonight we showed the level we can play at, now we have to continue to improve that level”.
Next Up:
Saskatchewan will look to continue building chemistry as they draw an early bye weekend. Regina will continue their road trip as they head to Vancouver to take on the UBC Thunderbirds for a pair of games. Game one begins Friday night at 7 p.m. Catch all the action on CanadaWest TV.
Hometown fans, from Oct 21st-Oct 27th, single game volleyball tickets are 25% off, visit HuskieTickets.com and use code VBALLBUYWEEK to claim your offer!