This Week In Cougar Athletics

Thursday (all times CST)
Women’s Volleyball – vs. UBC, 7:00 PM (CKHS)
Women’s Basketball – at Calgary, 7:00 PM (Calgary, Alta.)
Swimming – at U SPORTS Championships, Day 1 (Vancouver, B.C.)

Friday (all times CST)
Women’s Volleyball – vs. UBC, 7:00 PM (CKHS)
Women’s Basketball – at Calgary, 7:00 PM (Calgary, Alta.)
Swimming – at U SPORTS Championships, Day 2 (Vancouver, B.C.)
Track & Field – at Canada West Championships, Day 1 (Edmonton, Alta.)

Saturday (all times CST)
Women’s Volleyball – vs. UBC, 7:00 PM (CKHS) – if necessary
Women’s Basketball – at Calgary, 7:00 PM (Calgary, Alta.) – if necessary
Swimming – at U SPORTS Championships, Day 3 (Vancouver, B.C.)
Track & Field – at Canada West Championships, Day 2 (Edmonton, Alta.)

Women’s Volleyball (U SPORTS Ranking: No. 10) – The Cougars needed a Calgary sweep over UBC last weekend to hang on to the No. 4 spot in the Canada West standings and that’s exactly what happened. The Dinos’ two wins over the Thunderbirds ensured the Cougars would host a home playoff series for the third time in history and for the first time since 2010, as they’ll host a best-of-three quarterfinal against UBC starting on Thursday night (7:00). The second match is set for Friday night (7:00) with a third match – if it’s needed – to be played on Saturday night with a slightly earlier start time of 6:00.

Women’s Basketball (U SPORTS Ranking: No. 5) – The Cougars shook off the rust from their first-round bye to defeat Victoria in two straight games in a quarterfinal series at the CKHS, winning 71-51 over the Vikes on Thursday and closing out the series with an 81-60 victory on Friday. The series win moves the No. 3-seeded Cougars into this weekend’s Canada West semifinals, and they’ll travel to Calgary to square off with the Dinos in a best-of-three series that begins Thursday. The winner of that series not only will meet the winner of the Saskatchewan/Lethbridge series to decide the conference championship, but will also get an automatic berth to the 2019 U SPORTS Championship in Toronto.

Swimming – The Cougars finish off their 2018-19 season this weekend at the U SPORTS Championships, which will be hosted by the University of British Columbia from Thursday through Saturday. A total of eight swimmers will represent the U of R at the U SPORTS meet, including Ryan Jensen, Brian Palaschuk, Etienne Paquin-Foisy, Kareem Tarek Mohammed, Brendan Van Herk, and Noah Wasyliw on the men’s side and Bree Crookshanks and McKinley Penner on the women’s side.

Track & Field – The men’s and women’s teams will head up to Edmonton this weekend for the Canada West Championships on Friday and Saturday. A number of U of R athletes come into the meet ranked highly in the conference including Joely Welburn in both the high jump and long jump, Reagan Fedak in the weight throw, Greg Hetterley in both the 1000 and 1500, Shane Patmore in the long jump, and the men’s 4x400 and 4x800 relay teams.

Men’s Basketball – The Cougars’ season ended in Saskatoon on Friday after a loss to the Saskatchewan Huskies in the Canada West quarterfinals. They were defeated 99-68 in Game 1 on Thursday, and Saskatchewan took a 97-77 win the following night to advance to the conference semifinals. The Cougars could return almost everyone from this season’s team that was 14-6 in Canada West play with the exception of forward Kornel Tokolyi, the U of R’s lone graduating player.

Women’s Hockey – The Cougars travelled to the West Coast for a best-of-three quarterfinal series against UBC but lost in two straight games, falling 5-0 and 5-1 to the Thunderbirds on Friday and Saturday. The series marked the final two games for veterans Emma Waldenberger and Nikki Watters-Matthes, who both graduate after five full years with the program.