Cougars start hot but fall in quarterfinal

NIVERVILLE — Unfortunately for the Assiniboine College Cougars, there’s no such thing as a first-set knockout.

The Cougars threw the first punch against the top-ranked Vancouver Island Mariners, but fell 3-1 (20-25, 25-19, 25-9, 25-22) in the quarterfinals at Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association women’s volleyball nationals at the Community Resource and Recreation Centre on Wednesday afternoon.

“In the first set, if we played like that, we would have been just fine,” said Cougars setter Tyra Lasuik.

“They are a lot bigger than us and more physical. They definitely jump higher. They got more confident … where we started off super strong and slowly got tired.”

All year, the Cougars dominated the game on the outside as attackers Kylee Peake and Payton McNish were able to score at will against smaller blockers.

But suddenly, AC was up against a lineup with six-footers across the board, and the dynamic duo combined for 14 kills and 14 errors.

The Mariners recorded seven blocks, limiting the Cougars to just two as Grace Brisebois piled up 15 kills with just two errors while Regan Ingram recorded 13 and four.

“Kylee isn’t super high, she’s super crafty,” said Cougars coach Kevin Neufeld.

“She can score, but that block being four inches bigger creates some challenges and they also keyed on her. They knew she was going to get the ball a lot of the time and she didn’t have many one-on-one situations.”

The Cougars shook off some early jitters and kept it tied 13-13 before Heather Brost blasted a kill from the middle, then served an ace to start a three-point Assiniboine run.

Lasuik — who was named an all-Canadian on Tuesday night along with Peake — made it 21-16 on a tricky reverse dump, and the Cougars were able to stay up four or five points the rest of the way.

VIU bounced back to take a 6-2 lead in the second before AC replied with a 6-2 run to tie it.

But the Cougars went down again and were unable to catch up as the Mariners found their offensive form, with outside hitter Ingram and left-handed opposite Brisebois leading the charge.

VIU pulled ahead 22-15, and while AC cut the deficit to three, it was unable to defend its way back.

The Cougars shot themselves in the foot in the third set, falling behind 11-2 on eight straight errors of myriad varieties.

They clawed back within five but completely collapsed afterwards.

Neufeld gave some of his starters a breather as Vancouver Island made quick work of the rest of the set.

AC didn’t go away quietly, though, pulling ahead 13-10 in the fourth. However, VIU retook the lead quickly and extended it to 21-18.

The Cougars sided out well to stay alive, but the Mariners had an answer each time and calmly closed it out.

“We got off to a real good start and they didn’t serve real hard the first set for whatever reason. We were able to be in system a fair bit,” Neufeld said.

“Their serving got better, our ball control didn’t. That’s a pretty solid team, they’re pretty physical, pretty athletic and the third set was in that embarrassing range, but the fight we had to come back in the fourth set showed some real courage.”

The Cougars are back in action today, taking on the University of Alberta Augustana Vikings, who were reverse swept 3-2 by the Édouard-Montpetit Lynx on Wednesday, in a bronze-medal quarterfinal.

The winner plays in a bronze semifinal on Friday at 8 p.m., with the loser going to the seventh-place match at 3 o’clock.

Assiniboine isn’t about to let one loss stop it from fighting.

“We’re not just here to have fun; we’re here to win games and we’re going to show everyone what Manitoba can do,” Lasuik said.

“We have to keep in mind that we can still finish high. We didn’t come here to get eighth, we didn’t come here to get seventh, we came to win.”

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com