COUGAR ROUND-UP

REGINA (CP) – The University of Manitoba Bisons defeated the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in straight sets to capture their first CIS women’s volleyball championship since 2002 on Sunday at the U of R.

UBC entered the gold-medal final having won the last six national titles, tied with Winnipeg and Alberta for the longest streak in CIS women’s volleyball history. The Thunderbirds were the top seed going into this weekend’s tournament after sweeping Manitoba in straight sets in last week’s Canada West final.

With the win, the Bisons claimed their seventh overall CIS volleyball title, moving into a tie for second place all-time with Winnipeg and Alberta, and three behind UBC.

Manitoba’s Rachel Cockrell was named the championship MVP after registering a match-high 18 kills on 34 attempts in the final with just one error for a .500 hitting percentage. Cockrell was also in on five blocks for the Bisons.

UBC was led by CIS player of the year Lisa Barclay, who had 13 kills and nine digs in a losing cause. Abbey Keeping also had double-digit kills with 10, while Kirsty Setterlund chipped in with 27 assists and four digs.

Earlier, Laval earned its first CIS medal since 2011, defeating Dalhousie in four sets for bronze.  Langley, BC’s Trinity Western Spartans beat the host Regina Cougars in a series that went the limit of five games.

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Meanwhile the U of S Huskies scored at 5:09 of double overtime for a 2-1 victory over the Regina Cougars to win the Canada West womens hockey championship in Game 3 of the best-of-3 at Rutherford Arena in Saskatoon Sunday evening.  Kaitlin Willoughby scored the winner for the U of S.