This Week In Cougar Athletics

Away Schedule – Thursday
Men’s Basketball – at Manitoba, 7:30 p.m. (Winnipeg, Man.)

Away Schedule – Friday
Women’s Volleyball – at Calgary, 6:00 p.m. MST (Calgary, Alta.)
Women’s Hockey – at Saskatchewan, 7:00 p.m. (Saskatoon, Sask.)
Men’s Basketball – at Manitoba, 7:30 p.m. (Winnipeg, Man.)
Men’s Volleyball – at Calgary, 7:30 p.m. MST (Calgary, Alta.)

Away Schedule – Saturday
Women’s Volleyball – at Calgary, 4:00 p.m. MST (Calgary, Alta.)
Men’s Volleyball – at Calgary, 5:30 p.m. MST (Calgary, Alta.)
Women’s Hockey – at Saskatchewan, 7:00 p.m. (Saskatoon, Sask.)
Men’s Basketball – at Manitoba, 7:30 p.m. (Winnipeg, Man.) – if necessary

Away Schedule – Sunday
Women’s Hockey – at Saskatchewan, 7:00 p.m. (Saskatoon, Sask.) – if necessary

Men’s Basketball – The Cougars came up with a huge weekend sweep over Thompson Rivers last weekend at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport to clinch a postseason berth for the second year in a row. They beat TRU by an 81-54 score on Friday, then held off the WolfPack for a thrilling 79-74 win on Saturday. The Cougars enter the conference playoffs as the No. 12 seed and will travel east this weekend for a best-of-three Canada West play-in series at Manitoba. The series will be played on Thursday, Friday, and – if a third game is needed – Saturday, with all games scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. start time.

Women’s Hockey – The Cougars closed their Canada West regular season with a split against Calgary and will head to Saskatoon this weekend for a conference quarterfinal series against the Saskatchewan Huskies. Regina (10-13-4-1) took three of the four regular season meetings against the Huskies, including wins in both games at the University of Saskatchewan’s Rutherford Rink. The best-of-three series is scheduled to be played Friday, Saturday and Sunday (if necessary) at 7 p.m.

Women’s Volleyball – The Cougars were defeated twice by UBC in Vancouver last weekend, falling in straight sets on both nights to the No. 4-ranked Thunderbirds. Regina (3-19) will finish off the 2016-17 schedule this weekend against another ranked opponent, as the Cougars will square off with No. 5 Calgary on Friday and Saturday in Calgary. Third-year libero Taylor Ungar enters the final weekend of the season leading Canada West with an average of 3.89 digs per set and needing just 16 more digs to break Kelly Cowan’s school single-season record of 295 set during the 2006-07 season.

Men’s Volleyball – The Cougars lost twice in Vancouver last weekend to the No. 6-ranked UBC Thunderbirds, falling in straight sets on Friday and in four sets on Saturday. The U of R (1-21) plays its final matches of the season this weekend at Calgary against a Dinos team that will come into the series with a 7-13 record. First serve is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. (MST) on Friday and 5:30 p.m. (MST) on Saturday.

Wrestling (Women's U SPORTS Ranking: No. 6 / Men's U SPORTS Ranking: No. 7) – Nine Cougars captured top-three finishes at the Canada West Championships in Saskatoon on the weekend, including Amber Wiebe (51 kg) and Daniel Amberson (54 kg) who both won gold medals for the U of R. The Cougars finished in fourth place in the team standings on both the men’s side and the women’s side at the conference championships, while the U of R’s nine medal-winning wrestlers will advance to the U SPORTS Championships hosted by the University of Winnipeg on Feb. 24 and Feb. 25.

Women’s Basketball (U SPORTS Ranking: No. 3) – The Cougars finished their Canada West schedule with a pair of home wins over Thompson Rivers, winning 74-36 on Friday and 76-36 on Saturday over the WolfPack. Regina finishes the Canada West schedule with a 17-3 record and will enter the postseason as the No. 2 seed in the conference. The Cougars will get a bye through the first round of the playoffs before hosting either Trinity Western or Brandon in a best-of-three Canada West quarterfinal series beginning Thursday, Feb. 23.

Track & Field – Alex Eiswerth and Joy Becker both had two first-place finishes and set new school records over the weekend at the Golden Bear Challenge in Edmonton. Eiswerth won the 1000-metre run in a U of R record time of 2:28.71 and also placed first in the 1500, while Becker broke her own school record in the long jump (6.29 m), won the triple jump, and hit the U SPORTS standard in the 60-metre dash. The Cougars have this weekend off to prepare for the Canada West Championships, which they’ll host at the Regina Fieldhouse on Feb. 24 and Feb. 25.

Men’s Hockey – The Cougars wrapped up the Canada West schedule with two losses on home ice against the No. 8-ranked Calgary Dinos. The Cougars (3-22-3) fell 2-1 in overtime on Friday and 4-2 in Saturday's rematch. Cody Fowlie, Tyler Bell and Ian McNulty had goals for the Cougars.