Spartans make a clean sweep over the Cougars in the quarter-final
It was proved yet again on Thursday that teams playing on their home ground win more often than the guest team. The theory was reinforced in a match that was played between University of Regina Cougars and the Trinity Western University Spartans. The Spartans won the first match of the best of three Canada West women’s volleyball quarterfinal in a clean sweep. By the time they were done, the Spartans had posted dominating set scores of 25-15, 25-16, 25-22 on the score board.
From the start of the first set, the Spartans took hold of the game and asserted their dominance over the Regina Cougars by taking an impressive 12-1 lead. Challenged by the difference, the Cougars were able to step up their play and pushed forward in order to close the gap at 17-11. However, the Spartans did not let the Cougar’s spurt of speed last long and were able to comfortably win the initial set of the game with a big difference of 25-15.
The Cougars gathered their energies for the second set and put up a competitive start. Both the teams were neck to neck for most of the early part of the set. Cougars managed to stay at the top of the game at 15-14. The glory was short lived, as the Spartans took it away with a seven point run, giving away no point to the Cougars. The Cougars were just able to manage one more before the Spartans any hopes of a win they might have had with scoring four straight points. This sealed the deal on the second set of the game for the Spartans which they won at 25-16.
The pressure reached its peak for the Cougars at the commencement of the third set of the match as they had already lost two. The team responded well to the challenge and put up a tough fight against the Spartans. No one was sure where the tables would turn during the entire set of the match. During the last stages of the third round, the Cougars found themselves at a lead of 22-21. Unfortunately for them, the Cougars could not hold on to it firmly and lost what was to become the last set of the game when the Spartans went a 4-0 run to reach 25.
Prominent among the Cougars were Roxanne Olynyk and Meagan Onstad. Olynyk was able to register a total number of eight blocks for her team. Onstad on the other hand recorded 11 digs for the Cougars.
The Spartan player that stood out in the match was Kara Jansen-Van Doorn. She kept the score board running by posting 13 kills as well as six blocks for the Spartans.
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