University of Winnipeg

The Mount Royal Cougars are hoping to be among the best in the country when they host nationals in five months. Saturday afternoon they looked like it.
 
The Cougars rallied from 20-12 down in the third set and completed a sweep of the Winnipeg Wesmen Saturday, winning 3-0 () in a Canada West conference clash at the Duckworth Centre.
 
MRU has yet to lose a match this season, going 9-0 in non-conference play — which included wins over Alberta, Trinity Western and UBC — and now 3-0 in the Canada West campaign, and on Saturday the Cougars asserted themselves in the latter stages of sets, overcoming a few deficits to ultimately come out on top.
 
Most notably, however, was the third with the Wesmen up against the wall. Winnipeg built its eight-point advantage in a quest to extend the match, but the Cougars — with second-year Winnipegger Kai Toney on the service line — ran off eight straight to even the score. With the set tied at 24, the Cougars got a kill from Toney and another from Josh Watson to seal the match.
 
 The Wesmen also led 20-18 in the second only to see the Cougars come back, and built a 7-2 lead in the first before MRU chipped away.
 
Luke Lodewyks led the Wesmen with 14 kills and a team-high eight digs as well as two aces, and Levi Unger knocked down 10 kills.
 
Kale Orr and Dylan Annala both topped the Cougars (3-0) with 12 kills, while Orr chipped in a match-high nine digs.