Bisons split series with Regina Cougars
After five victories women’s volleyball suffers a loss
Vuthana Suon, STAFF
Photo by David Ian Lipnowski.
After an emotional win on Friday night, the Bison women’s volleyball team looked and played flat, as the Regina Cougars defeated them in four sets on Saturday night (Nov. 26).
The first game of the back-to-back weekend series ended with the brown and gold clawing their way out of a 14-15 deficit to take the fifth set by a score of 17-15. The 3-2 (25-19, 21-25, 26-24, 19-25, 17-15) victory extended the Bisons’ win streak to an impressive five games.
On Saturday, the Bisons’ streak was snapped in a 3-1 (17-25, 25-22, 18-25 and 22-25) loss.
The Bisons’ (5-5) success over the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) seventh-ranked Cougars (5-3) was short-lived, as the visitors were chomping and hungry in game two after blowing their lead and they dominated the Bisons. Showing why they’re ranked seventh nationally, the Cougars took the first set 25-17. The Bisons rebounded from the loss and took the second set 25-22. But, this was as close as the herd could get, as the Cougars took the next two sets by a score of 25-18 and 25-22.
Third-year hitter Amy Matthews, who had a team high 31 kills on the weekend, was disappointed with how the Bisons played in the rematch.
“We’re certainly not satisfied with how the game turned out,” said Matthews. We had a lot of unforced errors. [Friday] we were happy to come out on top, even though we definitely made some mistakes, but we just didn’t improve on enough of those things for this game.”
From the very first serve, there was a noticeable difference in the level of intensity between both teams.
The herd looked slow and unresponsive, and it was apparent their minds were not in the game. Too often, the Bisons served the ball out of bounds, looked frozen on Cougar dump-ins and tips, or were unable to return many of the spikes dished out by the Cougars’ Anne Fleming, Katherine Diduck or Beth Clark.
In stark contrast, the Cougars looked sharp and ready to play, with many of the women visibly animated after a big block or kill. They never allowed the Bisons to go on any defining runs and were able to close out their leads.
For such a young and talented team, one of the biggest barriers to success is the heart and grit they display. Bison coach Ken Bentley said his team put forth a lacklustre effort, which was ultimately their downfall.
“We had a great opportunity to go 6-4 [for the season] tonight, but we just didn’t compete like we needed to,” said Bentley. “I was looking forward to tonight’s game so much, after our performance yesterday; it’s just so disappointing not to get that same level of intensity today.”
“We didn’t play like it was important,” Bentley lamented.
