CALGARY - The University of Calgary Dinos women's volleyball team defeated the University of Regina Cougars, 3-0 Saturday evening inside the Jack Simpson Gym.

The Cougars played some solid defense and were able to out-dig the Dinos 34-33, but it just was not quite enough to stop the Dinos offense in the sweep, 25-19, 25-19, 25-17.

The Dinos had another dominant attacking performance, as they finished the match with an impressive .322 hitting percentage. Unlike last night, the Dinos were able to hold the Cougars to score less than 20 points each set. Although Regina took strides forward in their attacking as they hit .224 as a team, the Dinos did not break.

After falling to the Dinos in the first set and having a slow start to the second, Regina started to show some light half way through. Claire Sheppard brought the Cougars back to within five points by going on a four-point serving run. Despite the increased pressure, the Dinos regrouped and were able to side out the rest of the set to take the commanding 2-0 lead.

The third was all Dinos. Calgary jumped ahead 11-3 right out of the gates and never looked back, finishing off the sweep on back-to-back aces from Sophie Reed.

Calgary setter Stella Rains spread the ball out to her offense nicely Saturday, getting even more teammates involved than in Friday's win. Sheridan Coninx led the team with a total of 10 kills and an incredible .600 hitting percentage. Not far behind were both Daisy Olsen and Sammi Boag, racking up nine and eight kills, respectively, showing the strong versatility of their attacking lineup. 

"It was a good opportunity for us to make some adjustments from last night," Dinos head coach Christine Biggs said. "We were obviously really happy with the offensive side of things, but we had some sloppy blocking that we wanted to clean up tonight and I think we did a good job in a span of 24 hours to make those changes."

"We are doing a better job at knowing and executing a game plan. It was nice to see both of our setters running a really intentional offense and our hitters really taking advantage of the opportunities they were put in. The execution in that area was pretty exceptional and it was a nice confidence boost that, when we stick to our game plan, we can have success." 

For the Cougars, Bailey Balaberda had another great night. Again, leading her team in the kills category and matching Sheridan's game-high 10 kills in another strong showing.

Up next, the Dinos return to the road for a trip out west, taking on Trinity Western, starting Friday. Meanwhile, the Cougars return to Regina to host Mount Royal for a weekend set.

-UC-