Cougars get roar back under Sanford
The return of head coach Melanie Sanford has contributed to the resurgence of the University of Regina Cougars women’s volleyball team.
Sanford stepped aside from coaching during the 2016-17 Canada West season to help oversee the planning and execution of a review of the U of R’s athletics program. She returned to coaching May 1.
“I was pretty happy to get back into coaching,” Sanford said. “Not coaching allowed me the time to reflect on my coaching and that was a positive thing. Overall it was good, but I’m glad to be back. This is what I love doing and essentially I’m a coach.”
The Cougars have responded to Sanford’s return and are in the hunt for a playoff spot. The Cougars have a 6-8 record and are tied for the eighth and final Canada West playoff spot with Mount Royal and the Thompson Rivers WolfPack.
Regina plays the WolfPack on Friday (6 p.m.) and Saturday (7 p.m.) at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health and Sport.
The Cougars are off to their best start since the 2013-14 season — their last appearance in the playoffs. In 2014-15 they went 7-17. They were 1-23 in 2015-16 and 3-21 under interim head coach Shane Smith last season.
It helps that setter Satomi Togawa is fully recovered from a torn ACL she suffered early in the 201516 season. Regina also bolstered its roster with five elite-level recruits.
“The team is motivated to get better every day,” Sanford said. “We have a tremendous coaching staff that is working hard every day. It’s all of those factors that have come together. It’s an exciting group of athletes, but you can’t say enough about their motivation level to get back to the level of being competitive in Canada West.”
Regina also exhibited resiliency against the host Saskatchewan Huskies last weekend. The Cougars lost the first meeting 3-2 on Jan. 5 but bounced back the next day with a five-set win.
They didn’t make it easy Saturday, squandering a 2-0 advantage before salvaging the win with a 1510 victory in the fifth game.
“Even though we lost sets three and four, we showed the resilience that we needed in the fifth set to do what we needed to do,” Sanford said. “The beauty of the fifth set is you have time to do that.”