Written by Zach Worden

CALGARY – The Mount Royal University Cougars' women's volleyball team secured a place in the 2020 U SPORTS National Championship after beating the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack in the Canada West bronze medal match on March 6th. This marks the first time in program history that the Cougars will play for a national title.

The national tournament is being hosted by the University of Calgary Dinos, so the Cougars will be right at home.

The team received the No. 5 seed heading into the tournament and will get a chance to avenge their Canada West semi-final loss to the No. 4 seeded University of Alberta Pandas. The quarter-final match will start at 7:30 p.m. MST on Friday, March 13th.

The Cougars earned their trip to nationals after their most successful season in program history. Their 21-3 record was good for second in the Canada West and they were consistently ranked in the top 10 national rankings put out by U SPORTS each week.  

Despite falling in the semi-finals to the Pandas, the Cougars responded in the bronze medal match, knocking off the Wolfpack with a resounding 3-0 victory.

"They're extremely proud," said Cougars Head Coach Sandra Lamb about her team. "Being a part of school history and program history, it's well deserved."

One major aspect of this year's Cougars squad has been the team's chemistry on and off the court. That chemistry is going to play a big role in the team's success at nationals.

"But the chemistry on this team is definitely something that keeps everybody together and working together and pushing each other" said Lamb. "That's the biggest thing, knowing that they earned this, and they deserve this and being very proud and confident about it."

Livestreaming for the championship is available via subscription on USPORTS.LIVE.

Schedule / Live Stats 

Event Details

Nyadholi Thokbuom

The Cougars' second-year middle was named a Canada-West First Team All-Star. Thokbuom led the Canada West in hitting percentage and additionally finished fifth in blocks per set with a .386 percentage and 1.14 blocks respectively.

"All of our successes this season have been because of what we've been working towards all year which is this national championship," she said. "We're not done yet, so it's always [about getting] 1% better each and every practice."

Quinn Pelland

Third-year setter and team captain Pelland finished third in the Canada West in assists per set with 9.70. She was also named an all-star, earning a spot on the Canada West Second Team.

"Playing free and enjoying the moment, especially for this program, we've never had this opportunity before," said Pelland about the team going into nationals. "We're just really excited and going into it with the expectation that we've worked for it and we deserve what we get."

Chantel Park

Fifth-year Park joined Pelland as a Canada West Second Team All-Star after leading the conference in aces with 63 helping her move into third all-time in career Canada West aces. With her outstanding 2019-20 season Park also secured sixth all-time on the Canada West leaderboard in aces/set, totaling .457.