By: Daniel Herrick, Huskie Athletics
SASKATOON – The University of Saskatchewan Huskies capped the 2016 season with a 3-0 (25-15, 25-14, 25-17) win over the University of Regina Cougars Saturday night at the PAC.
For the Huskies, the win marked their 10th victory of the season. That total is the most for the program since they went 16-4 in 2001-02. Regina ends the season with a 1-23 record.
Fifth-year's Jina Barker and Anne Hanbidge both enjoyed their final matches for the green and white on Saturday. Barker recorded three service aces and added 26 assists to her career total. Barker leaves the program as the all-time assists leader with 2655. Hanbidge recorded a season high six kills in the match to go along with a solo block. The two connected on the final point of the match with Barker setting up Hanbidge for the winning kill.
Emmalyn Copping led Saskatchewan with 14 kills on the night. Emily Humbert notched three service aces to go with five kills. Jennifer Hueser was once again solid at libero, posting 15 digs.
Ashlee Sandiford led the Cougars offense again on Saturday night with a team-high seven kills. Tori Glynn added another six kills to go along with a team best eight digs in the match.
The Huskies got out to a hot 6-0 start in Saturday's opening set. Regina was able to settle in and cut the deficit to three at 9-6, until a string of Huskie kills got Saskatchewan back ahead comfortably at 14-9. From there the Huskies would take advantage of some Cougar errors and push to a 25-14 set win.
Saskatchewan raced out to another big lead early in the second set. One of Hanbidge's three aces made it 5-0 for the home squad, forcing a Cougar timeout. The Huskies continued to roll, bumping the lead up to 12-1. The Huskies had the set well under control, up 18-3 before Regina pushed back. The Cougars couldn't cut much off of the deficit and dropped the second 25-13.
The third was the most tightly contested set of the night. Saskatchewan worked a four point lead to 11-7, only to have the Cougars quickly cut it back down to two. The home squad pushed the lead to five at the technical timeout and continued to maintain it down the stretch right up until the final kill by the fifth-year duo, Hanbidge from Barker.