CALGARY - The Mount Royal University hosted the University of Saskatchewan Huskies to their final matchup of the season.
An early Cougars lead was thwarted by the Huskies as they went from 2-0 to 2-2. With a final block by Keal Prince, Mount Royal won the night 3-2 in the fifth, earning a weekend split.
The set scores were: 25-23, 25-17, 23-25, 23-25, and 15-9.
For Mount Royal, Chris Byam earned a career high 29.5 points with 26 kills for the night. For Saskatchewan, Cole Burkart earned 22 points with 19 kills.
The teams traded points early in the first. A series of kills from Chris Byam finally broke the tie. The Huskies struggled to find some momentum until a kill streak brought them to within two points of the Cougars score. However, a quick kill from Mount Royal's Joao Freire sealed the set for his team.
Saskatchewan held an early lead in the second with the Cougars staying close. A service ace from Byam pushed them into the lead which set off a healthy score gap. The Huskies' Burkart landed several kills to narrow the score a bit, but they were unable to catch up to the Cougars by the buzzer.
Mount Royal opened the scoring in the third, quickly matched by the Huskies. The Huskies momentarily took a three point lead, but a series of kills from Mount Royal's Luis Lange caught the Cougars up. A couple errors from the Cougars gave the Huskies an opportunity to make it to set point, an opening they capitalized on to keep the game going.
The fourth showed just how closely matched these two teams were. Mount Royal pulled into a slight lead with a service ace from Griffin Butler, slowly sneaking ahead by three points. A series of kills from Saskatchewan brought them back up to par, meeting the Cougars at 23. A final service ace from Levi Olson sealed the set for the Huskies.
The Cougars took a slight lead at the beginning of the final set until Connor Murray landed some kills to catch them up. They were within two points of matching the score until Prince landed a kill that set off some strong energy for the Cougars. A final block from Prince earned the match point, ending 3-2.
The Cougars will play next against the University of Winnipeg Wesmen on Friday, February 14th, on Kenyon Court.
