Pilots blank Cougars in three tight sets

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This article was published 28/01/2022 (1514 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Taylor De Le Mare spent more than enough time waiting for her Assiniboine Community College Cougars debut. 

Not only did the Dauphin product have to sit out the first semester before starting her education assistant program, but the Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference season was also paused for two weeks due to COVID-19. 

The Providence Pilots spoiled her debut with a 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-23) sweep at ACC on Friday, but it left the Cougars optimistic about the month ahead. 

“I was generally quite happy,” said Cougars coach Jeff Maxwell. “We had a tough first half of the season. There were a lot of games I didn’t think we were in, in the first half. These three sets today I thought we were right there.” 

“… (De La Mare) brings a real balance, calm, scoring, consistently hitting the ball and serve receive.” 

De La Mare took three years off volleyball after bouncing back and forth between Dauphin Clippers high school seasons and club ball in and around Brandon. She played two years for Maxwell’s club out of Forrest, then one with Cats Volleyball Club under Derek Richels and another for former national teamer Tabi Love. 

De La Mare completed her physical education degree at Brandon University in December and is finally able to play. 

“Been waiting for this for quite a while,” she said. “It definitely felt good playing as a team. With all our players, we’ve gone through a lot this season with picking up a few and dropping a few, so I feel like now we got our set six or eight and we’re ready to play now.” 

She certainly stepped in at a good time. Maxwell said left side Kendall Baker and libero Shae-Lynn McKinstry opted not to return for the second semester, so Dakota Burton, who split time at left side and libero, is now in the alternate jersey full time.  

Billie Bootsman got the Cougars going with three aces on a five-point run to open the match. But once they finally put the ball somewhere remotely settable, they turned it around and led 10-8. Both sides piled up the errors: Serving, receiving, hitting, you name it. The rust of no matches for nearly two months showed equally up to 20-20. 

But the visitors got their five-point run at a much more opportune time on a few ACC mishaps, a Maddie Fehr roll shot and an Alex Buhler middle kill to take the first set. 

The Cougars were sharper in the second set as De La Mare found her groove. She picked up four kills early, three on consecutive ACC points to open up an 11-8 lead. But down 14-11, the Pilots rattled off a six-point run full of long rallies and stayed ahead the rest of the way. Fehr enjoyed an open line shot and scored at will. 

Assiniboine pulled within one with De La Mare’s fifth kill of the set, however, but Fehr unleashed a pair of spin-serve aces to make it 23-19. The visitors were content to trade points from there to lead 2-0. Fehr had six of her team-high 11 kills in the frame. 

In the third set, Providence broke a 17-17 deadlock with a Taylor Hiebert kill and an ace, then the teams traded points as ACC missed three straight serves. The Cougars fought back as Mackenzie Zatylny ripped a pair of kills — making it 11 on the day — but Jordan Moyer scored off hands to bring up match point and finished it with one more ace. 

The loss puts ACC five wins back of Providence, all but locking the Cougars into the 1-vs.-4 semifinal. Come playoffs, though, everyone makes it and all it takes is two wins. Maxwell feels it was a step in the right direction. 

“Our passing and serve receive was solid,” Maxwell said. “As the games went on we started to dig them. They’re probably one of the heaviest hitting teams in the league … and moving on we did a much better job getting touches, digging the ball down the line.” 

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com 

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