MRU Cougars sweep way to gold-medal game at women's volleyball nationals

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The Mount Royal Cougars are acting like they’ve been here, done this before.

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How else do explain the domination they’re displaying at the 2022 U SPORTS Women’s Volleyball Championship?

It’s something you generally couldn’t imagine from a team in its first nationals foray.

But they’ve been thinking it — surprisingly — in slamming top teams with two straight sweeps at the University of Calgary-hosted tournament.

“I’m so excited … wooooooooo!” said Cougars libero Nataliia Klimenova, bounding with energy moments after the Calgary club toppled the Alberta Pandas 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 26-24) in Saturday night’s semifinal action at the Jack Simpson Gym.

“I like the word ‘swept’, but it was such hard work,” continued the super-hyped MRU star. “We have a mental performance coach, and she told us, ‘You should eliminate the words ‘you have to’ — ‘you have to’ play, ‘you have to’ win, you have to pass’ … So now it’s ‘we get an opportunity. We get an opportunity to play here. We get a chance to play for the medals’ — that’s what we’ve done.

“It’s not pressure. It’s just show up and do what you’ve been doing all these years — and it will be great.”

It could be just that, as MRU plays for its first-ever U SPORTS crown in women’s volleyball when Klimenova & Co. take the court in the championship match Sunday night at The Jack (6 p.m.).

They take on the Trinity Western Spartans, who beat the McGill Martlets 3-0 in Saturday’s other semi, in the gold-medal match.

And in that game, they should shine if they continue playing the way they did Friday night in disposing of the Brock Badgers 3-0 and again Saturday night in taking down Alberta.

“Let’s be honest …” said Klimenova, the Cougars’ player of the match with 19 digs. “We’re playing for the first time at such a high level, and the pressure and the expectations probably were holding on our shoulders. I said (during a timeout in the third set Saturday), ‘We have to leave everything on the court, and then we will see how it goes. The team exhaled everything at the end. Those last moments we had? It was amazing.”

Madison Marshall made them just that, cracking a 24-24 tie with two connections. First, she put up her 11th kill for the go-ahead point, and then she fired a ball into an Alberta block for a side-out, sending the pro-MRU crowd into a frenzy.

Marshall and teammate Haley Roe were simply hammering the ball every chance they got.

Roe had a team-high 13 kills and 16 digs for MRU, while Marshall added 14 digs. Fellow Cougars star Quinn Pelland led the game with 20 digs and was another marvel for the Calgary club.

It was the eighth meeting between the provincial rivals, with Alberta scoring five wins in the previous matches.

The Cougars were the only team to beat the Pandas in the regular season.

Then the Pandas handled the Cougars in the Canada West semifinal.

And then this gem from the Cougs in the all-important rubber match.

“I’m so proud of this team, for the players and for the coaching staff. We did such a good job supporting each other.

“It was one unit. We’re not divided. Even when Jessica Osczevski has an injury, but the team gets closer. Nicole (Bourget) steps up. I’m so grateful to have these teammates.”

TORONTO 3, CALGARY 2

The host U of C Dinos can hold their heads high despite a second-straight loss Saturday at nationals.

They fell to the Toronto Varsity Blues in an emotional 3-2 battle (25-21, 25-18, 22-25, 22-25, 15-13), becoming eliminated by the result.

The Varsity Blues collected the first two sets, but the host Dinos wouldn’t go away and nearly stole it in the final three sets.

“I think it’s pretty special,” said Dinos veteran and outside hitting star Kenzie Vaandering. “To go out there leave everything on the court with each set, we got better. And pushing them to five is something to be proud of. Even though it wasn’t the result we wanted, I was really proud of how hard we fought and how we kept coming back every single time, every single point.”

Vaandering had 21 kills, while teammate Regan Ingram had 16 in the losing cause, while teammate Stella Rains had 16 digs. Middle hitter Sheridan Coninx was the Dinos player of the game with 11 kills and had a team-high .474 hitting percentage.

“My last game ever, so I just wanted to leave it all out there,” said Vaandering, a Calgary native. “I just wanted to fight for the girls to keep going. I wanted to be proud of my last game.”

After also losing to top-ranked Trinity Western on Friday, the two-and-out means the Dinos are done and won’t play Sunday, when the three finals wrap up nationals.

The consolation final between Toronto and the Brock Badgers, who beat the Atlantic champion Dalhousie Tigers 3-1 (21-25, 25-17, 25-23, 25-21) on Day 2, goes at noon. That’s followed by the bronze-medal and gold-medal matches respectively at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.

“It’s been amazing,” added Vaandering of the nationals fun. “It’s such a good building block for next year. Like we always say, we have a young team, but next year, they won’t be young any more. So for the girls who are in first and second year, having that experience of playing in a U SPORTS national championship is going to be huge for them moving forward.”

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

The Dinos fell short in the U SPORTS Men’s Volleyball Championship, falling Saturday night in their semifinal with Alberta.

The Golden Bears scored a 3-1 victory (25-16, 25-23, 10-25, 25-19) in Winnipeg despite 13 kills from Dinos star Hamish Hazelden, who also had nine digs.

The Dinos, who had seven service aces against their rivals, now play for the bronze medal against either the Trinity Western Spartans or the Sherbrooke Vert et Or on Sunday (2 p.m. MT.).

tsaelhof@postmedia.com

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— with files from Postmedia news services