WVB: Cougars strong first set not enough to beat Cascades

Box Score
CALGARY, AB – Winners will find a way to win.

The Mount Royal University Cougars women’s volleyball team fell to the University of Fraser Valley Cascades 3-1 (25-20, 16-25, 17-25, 18-25) at Kenyon Court on Friday night.

Mount Royal looked locked in on their home floor to start the game. Despite being the underdog to the U SPORTS seventh-ranked Cascades, the Cougars were not intimidated and played some of their best volleyball to date in the first set. 

The usual stars Jessica Osczevski and Bronwynn Davies-Neira led the MRU attack while Lexi Herrod did an excellent job of distributing the ball. In the past weeks, Herrod has settled into being the number one option at setter and has allowed Sarah McKillican to flourish as the full-time libero.

After dropping the first set, Fraser Valley settled in and rebounded to take the second. The three Attieh sisters, Lauren, Gabrielle and Talia were all huge for the Cascades and were the key players that helped their team even the set score at one. Lauren Attieh led the Cascades with 17 kills.

The Cascades made it loud and clear that the first set is not how they play. UFV registered 17 kills in the third set, only committing three attacking errors. Cailin Bitter was consistent all the way through at setter, forming strong connections with all three Attieh sisters.

Looking to take home a Friday night road victory, Talia Attieh served four aces in the fourth set, causing Mount Royal to fall out of the groove that they had found early in the game. Attieh’s big set solidified the 3-1 win for Fraser Valley.

The Cougars will look for a bounce-back effort against UFV when the two teams go head-to-head once again on Saturday at 5 p.m.

Tickets can be purchased online and all the action can be streamed live on Canada West TV.