Calgary, AB- In a battle of the Cougars, Mount Royal University was able to take down the University of Regina in straight sets (25-22, 25-21, 25-20) Saturday night on Kenyon Court improving to .500 on the season. Rookie Carolina Alongi lead the way for Mount Royal registering 12.5 points in the victory while Ashlee Sandiford had 10 points in her teams fourth straight loss.
An evenly played first set saw the two teams trade points back and fourth with neither team having more than a three point lead the entire way. Up 22-21, Mount Royal's Kylie Willis hit a beautiful spike painting the back line giving them a key point in the set. The home Cougars won two out of the next three points, picking up the first set 25-22.
Regina picked up their game immensely to start off the second set, getting off to a quick 5-0 lead which forced Mount Royal to take a timeout in an attempt to settle things down.
Mount Royal appeared to stop the bleeding with the timeout and began to slowly claw away at Regina's lead- eventually tying the game up at 14. Mount Royal received more than a few fortuitous bounces during the set to keep their momentum going. On two occasions the ball went off a players knee and up to a teammate to attack- both resulting in Mount Royal points, and two others serves clipped the top of the net, falling in just the right spot for the home squad. The bounces combined with good kills down the stretch from Kylie Willis and Caroline Alongi lead to a 25-21 Mount Royal set win, putting a stranglehold on the match up 2-0.
Looking to shutout Regina for their second win of the weekend, Mount Royal carried their strong play into the third set taking a 12-6 lead. Regina struggled to get anything going as seemingly every hit attempt was turned away by Mount Royal's tall net front presence. Mount Royal continued their dominant play and took the third set 25-20, sending the University of Regina home empty handed.
Both teams will have their work cut out for them next weekend against undefeated teams. The now 2-2 Mount Royal Cougars will host the University of Alberta while the 0-4 University of Regina Cougars will return home to take on the University of British Columbia.