Cougars roar back to win in five

This one’s going to sting.

The Brandon University Bobcats (2-13) dropped an absolute nail biter following a 3-2 (25-27, 25-19, 25-23, 21-25, 7-15) loss to the Regina Cougars (5-10) in their Canada West women’s volleyball match at the Healthy Living Centre on Friday.

Whatever hope the Bobcats were clinging to for a potential post-season spot now seems to have gone completely dark, as it’s just too little too late.

BU posted 48 kills, including 13 from rookie outside hitter Brynn Wildeboer and 36 attacking errors while Regina notched 52 kills, with 13 coming from Samantha Krausher. It only had 29 errors.

As for the Bobcats, the pressure of the moment appeared to be too much for them, as their start looked promising until it didn’t.

They got off to practically a picture perfect start thanks to six-foot middle Nerissa Dyer, who notched a block, a kill and an ace to help her team to a 7-2 lead, before both clubs went back and forth notching 8 points apiece to make it 15-10 for BU. An ace from Stephanie Miller and a pair of kills from Maddy Hettinga gave them even more insurance at 18-11, but that’s when the momentum turned — and quickly.

“I think it was just the little things,” said Brooklyn Pratt. “We were confident in our systems, but just a couple little things didn’t go our way or miscommunications that we just got to clean up.”

Brandon began getting sloppy with its defensive play off the serve, giving up three aces to Piper Harkness and few more unforced errors to completely give up their seven-point cushion. Again, the two teams returned fire on each other to make it a 25-25 score and then outside hitter Jordy McEachern put an end to the rollercoaster of a first set logging two straight kills to complete the comeback and put Regina on top.

The second set appeared to be déjà vu.

Cassidy Hauta and Dyer both notched aces while Grand Prairie’s Carly Thomson grabbed a kill to give BU a 5-4 lead to start and then it went south. Regina again took advantage of Brandon’s lack of cohesion and stole eight of the next 10 points to give themselves a 13-6 lead. Just when it looked like it was about to get even more ugly, The Cougars started making mistakes of their own, collecting five attack errors to bring the Bobcats even at 14-14.

Three kills from BU rookie Wildeboer and a few attack errors from Regina’s McEachern put the Bobcats back on top 21-18, then Hauta added a few more before Stephanie Miller then slammed a bomb down the middle of the floor to tie sets at ones.

The third and fourth sets could have been anyone’s game as it was back and forth the whole way with momentum swings left and right. After Regina went up 21-15 in the third, Miller and Wildeboer combined for six points as Brandon stormed back to grab 10 of the last 12 scores and win the set.

With nothing left to do but close it out in the fourth, the Bobcats got off to a 4-1 lead with another heavy strike from Miller down the middle, but then the Cougars led the rest of the way. Four kills from Bailey Balaberda propelled Regina to a 17-11 lead, but Brandon didn’t go away quietly.

“I think we did a really good job at not getting too down when we were down by a couple points and just staying in it and switching it up and fighting hard and getting a comeback almost every single set,” Pratt said.

Despite their resilience bringing it back to a one-score deficit at 22-21, it still wasn’t enough, as the Cougars defended their lead to a 25-21 score, and clearly carried the momentum over to the final set.

In what was not only a do-or-die set, but also a make-or-break moment for their season, the Bobcats had the Cougars tied at fours, however, that was the closest they would see themselves to victory. Zoey Thompson added a pair of aces, while Krausher tallied a few more kills to bring Regina’s lead to 11-5. Balaberda, who had six kills on the night, collected the last two points to deliver heartbreak to BU.

Pratt said while the loss is tough, they’ll have to just forget about it and try and play equals tonight in the rematch.

“I think we’ll just see what we have to make changes on and just not give ourselves too much pressure and just go out firing tomorrow,” she said.

QUICK HITS: Tonight’s match starts at 6 o’clock. The BU men are on a bye this week … In Calgary, the Bobcats women’s basketball team (5-10) lost to the Mount Royal Cougars (9-8) by a score of 77-58. Piper Ingalls led Brandon with 22 points. The men’s game ended after deadline. The teams meet again today at 6 p.m. CT (women) and 8 o’clock (men).

» mdelucataronno@brandonsun.com

» mdelucataronno@brandonsun.com