(By University of Regina Sports Information)

REGINA – Outside hitters Jessica Lerminiaux and Ashlee Sandiford helped drive the University of Regina's women's volleyball team to a three-set victory over MacEwan on Friday night at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

Lerminiaux and Sandiford combined for 33 kills in the win, one more than MacEwan totalled as a team. Lerminiaux finished with 16 kills and a match-high .333 hitting percentage, while Sandiford led all players with 17 kills and also hit .311 in the win.

"Ashlee and Jessica were both outstanding tonight and were really the driving force behind our win," Cougars head coach Melanie Sanford said. "We also got some great defence from Taylor (Ungar) and for Satomi (Togawa) to finish with 44 assists is impressive in a three-set match."

The Cougars opened the match with 25-19 and 25-14 wins in the first two sets, but the third set was the most hotly contested of the night. It featured 10 tie scores and four lead changes, and the two teams had four unsuccessful attempts at set point – three by Regina, one by MacEwan – before the Cougars finally converted their fourth attempt at match point thanks to a wide hit by the Griffins.

The win improves Regina's record to 11-8 on the season as the Cougars have now won five consecutive matches.

Besides the hitting exploits by Lerminiaux and Sandiford, Togawa was once again stellar while controlling a Cougar offence that hit .246 as a team. Togawa's 44 assists are the second most in school history in a three-set Canada West match, and she also helped out defensively with 11 digs. Diana Lumbala added eight kills and six blocks, while Ungar had a match-high 18 digs and now needs just 14 more to set a new Canada West career mark.

MacEwan (8-9) was led by Lauren Holmes, who finished with a team-high 10 kills and also added 11 digs for the Griffins.

The two teams will meet again on Saturday night at the CKHS. Match time is set for 7:00.