Box Score
CALGARY, AB – A sensational senior night at Kenyon.
In a potential game of the year, the Mount Royal University Cougars men’s volleyball team outlasted the University of Winnipeg Wesmen 3-2 (25-22, 25-27, 23-25, 25-18, 16-14) in a thrilling match that went the distance.
Before the game’s first serve, seven graduating members of the Cougars were recognized for their outstanding careers as student-athletes at Mount Royal. Jacob van Geel, Chris Byam, Luis Lange, Jace Timmer, Cody Boulding, Max Haronga and Griffin Butler have all been cornerstones of a long successful run of the program.
Along with the largest senior class in MRU men’s volleyball history, two graduates from Winnipeg, Ethan Duncan and Nigel Nielsen, were recognized for their time with the Wesmen.
Following the conclusion of the pregame ceremonies, a competitive match of volleyball commenced. Jace Timmer ignited MRU’s home crowd with a thunderous rejection, meeting Winnipeg’s Liam Kristjanson at the net.
Kristjanson would get his revenge a few rallies later with a powerful kill following the Wesmen calling a timeout.
After Mount Royal dominated early, the Wesmen regrouped to shift the momentum in their favour.
Going down to the wire, the Cougars narrowly prevailed in the first set on the back of Chris Byam’s six kills.
Mount Royal’s stars were showcasing their finest play. Jacob van Geel demonstrated his impressive versatility, racking up points with hits, tips and blocks.
However, Winnipeg matched their opponent’s efforts with their own dose of great plays. Nigel Nielsen’s number was called to go up against Chris Byam’s potent hits, with Nielsen laying a huge block on MRU’s best player.
As the score hit the 20s, the Cougars put together an incredible rally that included Samson Olsen keeping the ball alive with his foot and finishing with a Jacob van Geel kill down the line.
Mount Royal faced a few late-set errors, pushing the score beyond 25 as the Wesmen battled to even the set score.
For the set’s final point, Ben Traa checked in for the first time in the game. With ice in his veins, Traa served an ace, ricocheting off the arms of Cougars libero Griffin Butler and sealing a 27-25 set win for Winnipeg.
The third set saw a major performance from Wesmen star outside hitter Isaiah Olfert. The local Winnipegger registered five kills in the set, guiding his squad to another narrow win to take the lead over Mount Royal heading into the fourth.
Winnipeg middle Ethan Duncan was showing inspiring hustle, routinely going all out to keep the ball alive. Duncan’s high compete-level energized his teammates to fight hard against a talented Cougar team.
On the other side of the court, Mount Royal kept the vibes positive despite trailing by a set and needing a win to extend the evening. A thrashing kill by Luis Lange and a deafening block from Max Haronga pushed the Cougars closer to the 25-point mark and kept the gym fired up.
With the finish line in sight, Chris Byam served back-to-back aces and Cody Boulding sealed it with a party-ball kill to send the game to a deciding fifth set. Byam posted an incredible stat line of 20 kills, five aces and four blocks.
The Cougars and Wesmen went kill-for-kill in the final set. In a game of inches, the referees were forced to make difficult calls, raising tension even higher.
Within one point of victory, MRU’s rookie setter Grant Hill found Max Haronga to end the game with a beautiful left-side kill. A fantastic ending to a memorable night for the Mount Royal Cougars.
After a lengthy stretch of home games, the 14-6 Cougars are back on the road next weekend for a pair of matches against the Brandon University Bobcats.
All the action can be streamed live on Canada West TV.
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