Veterans will lead Cougars volleyball team
University of Regina head coach Melanie Sanford likes a lot of things about the Cougars women’s volleyball team as it enters the 2014-15 Canada West regular season.
“I like that we have five starters returning,” begins Sanford, whose team is to open the regular season tonight in Winnipeg against the Manitoba Bisons. “I like that we have really solid leadership. And I like that we have a team that follows that leadership.
“Our leadership on and off the court is really obvious. We have a lot of experience after last year and the competitive experience we got will be a real positive this year.”
The 2013-14 Cougars went 12-10 in the Canada West regular season and qualified for the playoffs, but Regina was bounced by the Trinity Western Spartans in a quarterfinal.
That loss didn’t end the Cougars’ season, though.
As the host team for the CIS championship tournament, the Cougars had an automatic berth in the event. They eventually finished sixth, falling to Trinity Western in five sets in the fifth-place game.
Record-setting outside hitter Desiree Ates and libero Megan Semeniuk exhausted their eligibility last season, so that created two huge voids that the Cougars must fill this season.
“It’s going to take us some time to settle into a new lineup,” Sanford admits. “But we can’t dwell on the fact that Desiree and Megan are gone. We have to move forward — which I think this team has done.
“Really, I look at (the situation) as a positive — it’s an opportunity for somebody else to step up.”
Third-year Jenna Krahn is slated to start in the spot in which Ates starred, while fifth-year Lindsay Braul will replace Semeniuk as the libero. As mentioned, the rest of the starting roster features five veterans.
Leah Shevkenek, who was named the Canada West rookie of the year last season, returns as the Cougars’ setter. Fifth-year Michelle Sweeting and third-year Molly Wade-Cummings are back in the middle, and fifthyear Chelsea Ziolkowski and fourth-year Tori Glynn return as outside hitters.
“We’re going to have more balance (on offence), that’s for sure,” Sanford says. “Michelle is going to be one of our key attackers and other people like Chelsea and Tori are going to take on more responsibility.
“It makes for a good volleyball team when you have everybody contribute.”
Abby Hodgins (who’s in her fourth year) and Hannah Hardy (second) round out the Cougars’ veteran core. Krista Clark, Kyla Payette, Ashlee Sandiford, Mackenzie Timmerman, Taylor Ungar and Kristine Ward are rookies who will get varying amounts of playing time.
Sanford makes no bones about the fact that the Cougars will go as far as their veterans take them.
“I always talk to the captains that their performance is key at the end of the day,” says Sanford, who’s in her 13th season as the Cougars’ bench boss. “It’s up to them to lead through performance and perform when performing is needed.”
Sanford’s biggest concern entering the season is how long it will take the new starters to settle into their roles, but the Cougars could have time to ease in those players: Four of Regina’s first five opponents missed the playoffs last season.
“This team will decide where it fits in,” says Sanford, whose squad finished eighth in a pre-season poll of Canada West coaches. “It’s an open door. But we’ve got to perform every single weekend because there’s a lot of opportunities out there.”