Wednesday, February 13, 2013….The Mount Royal University Cougar women's volleyball team is headed to the post-season.

After putting together a 14-8 regular season record, the lady Cougars will make their playoff debut this weekend as they head to Kelowna for a best-of-three game quarter-final series with the University of British Columbia Okanagan (UBCO) Heat.

The Heat meanwhile finished the season with a 15-7 record, one spot ahead of the Cougars in the final Canada West standings. The Heat also rank one spot ahead of the Cougars in the CIS national rankings - finishing the year as the No.9 ranked club in Canada, while the Cougars finished the year in tenth.

The two clubs met at Mount Royal in November, splitting the series as the Heat came out with a 3-1 win on the Friday night before the Cougars stormed back on Saturday, winning in five sets, 3-2.  

Up front the Cougars are led by freshman Carolyn O'Dwyer who sits fifth in the Canada West in kills per set (kps), averaging a gaudy 3.15 kps.

O'Dwyer was on point in her two matches against the Heat, hammering down 14 kills the first night before putting away a career-high 25 kills in Saturday's win – looking nearly unstoppable in the process.

Flanking O'Dwyer will be a pair of fourth-years in fellow outside hitter Olivia Grecu (2.63 kps) and middle Julia Pasieka (2.45 kps). The two have been consistent all year for the Cougars and will look to carry the momentum forward into quarter-final weekend.  

On the other side of the court, the Heat will turn to their only fifth-year athlete in senior Alexandra Basso, who scored 26 kills against the Cougars in their two previous matches.

Basso's 2.49 kill per set average ranks second on the team only to fourth-year Myrte Schon  who leads the club with a 2.6 kps average, but was held to only three kills in five sets of action against the Cougars back in the fall.

Both teams sport depth down the middle, and the Cougars will have to pay close attention to middle Katy Klomps who sits third in the Canada West in blocks per set, averaging 1.3.

Mount Royal will look to counter with their one-two punch down the centre, in Pasieka (0.82 bps) and first-year Kylie Willis (0.72 bps).

With barely an inch separating these two clubs, it's going to be interesting to see how head coach Sandra Lamb's team handles the pressure of the Canada West post-season after having so much success in the ACAC and CCAA playoffs, claiming the college national championship back in 2011, and finished second at the CCAA championship last season.

Action gets underway Thursday in Kelowna, with a 7 p.m. (MST) first-serve scheduled. Match two of the best-of-three series goes Friday back at UBCO also at 7 p.m. (MST).

Game three, if needed, will be played Saturday afternoon, game time TBD. Live webcasts of the playoff series will be available on ubco.canadawest.tv.

The winner of the series will move on to the Canada West Final Four hosted by the UBC Thunderbirds, where the top three finishers of the tournament earn a berth to the CIS championships. The 2013 CIS Women's Volleyball Championship will be held February 28 to March 2 at the Université de Sherbrooke.