WVB: Cougars capture berth in U SPORTS National Championships after dominant performance over UBC

EDMONTON, ALTA. – The Mount Royal Cougars made program history on Saturday, clinching their second U SPORTS Championship appearance ever with a 3-0 win over the UBC Thunderbirds in the Canada West bronze medal match.

Mount Royal was dominant throughout, cruising to the straight sets (25-19, 25-17, 25-9) win.

The win sends the Cougars to the 2022 U SPORTS Championship, hosted next week by their cross-town rival Calgary Dinos. It’s also their second ever Canada West medal, after also winning bronze in 2020.

“After yesterday, we really wanted to come out and take care of our own side and rely on our own energy,” Cougars captain Quinn Pelland, said. “I’m really proud of how we recovered and how we banded together to show how much we wanted the win.” 

Nyadholi Thokbuom led MRU with 10 kills on 19 swings, with Madison Marshall and Jessica Osczevski adding six each. Pelland finished with a game-high 26 assists.

“We earned it and deserve to be in the top of Canada and we’re really excited to continue on to Nationals,” continued the Cougars setter. “It show’s we’re taking the right steps to build our program and we can’t wait to show our energy at Nationals despite everything going on these past two years.”

Cara Kovavs led UBC with seven kills. 

While neither team was overly efficient in the first set, Mount Royal used a balanced attacked to take the first 25-19.

Five Cougars netted at least two kills, with Thokbuom leading MRU with three on 10 kills.

UBC scored just eight kills total on 32 swings, committing eight errors in the first. Kovacs led the T-Birds with four kills on nine attempts, with UBC adding six total team blocks.

Mount Royal turned up their efficiency in the second, cruising to a 25-17 set win. The Cougars scored nine kills on just 21 attempts, led by four from Madison Marshall, and two each from Haley Roe and Jessica Osczevski.

The T-Birds netted eight kills of their own, but committed another seven errors. UBC also added seven service errors in a sloppy second set.

Holding all of the momentum after two, the Cougars throttled UBC in the third, scoring 13 kills on 24 attempts, not recording a single error. UBC mustered just 4 kills, adding 11 errors in the third, losing 25-9.

The 2022 U SPORTS Championship will get underway on Friday, March 25th at the Jack Simpson Gymnasium in Calgary.