Cougars serve Bobcat women off court
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/02/2024 (692 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Carly Thomson, Alex Roberge or the best setter in volleyball history couldn’t have done much to change the outcome.
The Brandon University Bobcats never found their offensive groove in a 3-0 (25-22, 25-18, 25-12) loss to the Mount Royal Cougars (5-14) in their Canada West women’s volleyball match at the Healthy Living Centre on Friday.
“We knew it would be a serving and passing game. At the beginning, we missed a lot of serves and they just beat us in the serve-pass game,” Roberge said.
Brandon Bobcats libero Brooklyn Pratt digs the ball towards the net during Canada West women's volleyball action against the Mount Royal Cougars at the Healthy Living Centre on Friday night.
(Photos by Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun)
“With Carly in the front row, they can miss off the net. With me in the front row, we’ve established I’m better at net play so it’s better to miss over the net and they didn’t really do that.
“I think I did my job really well. I tried to distribute the ball as much as I could with what was given.”
Both teams missed 12 serves, though MRU had 10 aces while Brandon (1-18) only recorded five and let setter Lexi Herrod’s offence hit .259 while BU hit .050, with almost as many errors as kills.
Cougars coach Shane Smith felt his team took some time to find its rhythm after a bye week, but liked what he saw after the first.
“We fought hard. They put up a good fight in the second for sure and we had to work for it, so it was good,” said Smith, who served as an assistant coach under Lee Carter at BU in 2015-16 and is back in the gym for the third time.
“It’s such a cool place and so much support for the volleyball team. Walking in here and seeing tons of familiar faces, it’s cool to come back here and see that.
“This was kind of the first year I was really full-time with a program, so just learning the challenges and difficulties with managing a whole season with Canada West and U Sports. There’s a lot of things about coaching people don’t think about so I learned a lot about those things when I was here.”
It started close between the two non-playoff-bound teams, tied 9-9 before Emma Boyd served a four-point run full of Brandon errors to lead 13-9.
The Bobcats kept pace, but got caught with go-to attacker Avery Burgar in the back row on a 4-1 stretch to trail 22-15.
MRU bailed them out with a missed serve after a timeout, then Carly Thomson served up a four-point run.
It was too late for that to matter, however, as the Cougars had three chances to close it out and needed just two.
Jessica Osczevski’s match-high sixth kill of the set — a routine free ball — led to miscommunication on the Bobcat side with everyone standing and watching and no one diving to pick it up.
Brandon pulled ahead early with its best lineup at the net and Nerissa Dyer serving a four-point run to lead 7-4.
But with Burgar in the back row again, the Cougars scored four straight to tie it 12-12.
Boyd’s tricky float serve turned the tide again. Down 15-12, she rattled off eight points without letting Brandon connect on a middle attack.
In a battle at the net, Brandon Bobcat Avery Burgar spikes the ball past Mya Morgan of the Mount Royal Cougars.
BU coach Kailan Robinson subbed Roberge in and she connected with Dyer for a pair of kills in the middle.
That was far from enough. Osczevski hammered MRU’s fourth ace of the set to take a 2-0 lead.
Besides a few Georgia Johnson kills, all the scoring BU could muster early in the third was MRU service errors.
The Cougars played steady when they put the ball in play and comfortably blew the Bobcats out in the fastest set of the night.
Osczevski had a match-high 11 kills while the fifth-year and fellow outside hitters Boyd and Sydney Scatcherd combined for 25 kills and five errors.
Johnson led BU with eight kills and six errors.
The Bobcats did quiet the Cougars’ middles offensively, as Bronwynn Davies-Neira had a kill and four errors.
“We blocked really well today, we defended well when we had the chance,” Roberge said.
“The biggest takeaway would really just be to take care of what’s on our side. I feel like we got rattled up a little bit, especially in the third set but (also) in the first and second.”
The teams meet again today at 5 p.m.
» tfriesen@brandonsun.com
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