COLLEEN MARTYN
Sports Writer

Volleyball

The University of Saskatchewan women’s volleyball team got a rude awakening when they met the Winnipeg Wesmen Nov. 19 and 20 at the Duckworth Centre in Winnipeg.

The opening match on Nov. 19, Wesmen Lauren Sears who had an amazing performance of 12 kills, three service aces and two blocks, and Carleen Kruschel, who had 18 defensive digs. The Huskies own Candace Hueser, had 15 kills and Haley Manson finished with 20 defensive digs. Winnipeg dominated the opening set winning with a score of 25-23 and gained a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-20 win in the second set. 

Huskies made their comeback in the third set winning 25-28 before the Wesmen closed the fourth match at 25-20. Winnipeg completed their dominance of the Huskies with a 3-1 (27-25, 28-26, 24-26, 25-17) victory Nov. 20. With this weekend’s losses Saskatchewan’s record falls to 1-5 and they will travel to B.C. to face off with the T-Birds.

  The Huskies men’s volleyball team also matched up against the Winnipeg Wesmen, picking up their first win of the regular season with a 3-1 (23-25, 25-23,29-27,25-21) victory Nov. 19 in Winnipeg.  Bryan Fraser led the Huskies with a match high 19 kills and Jeffrey Grant also led with 16 defensive digs. The streak was ended Nov. 20 when the Wesmen defeated the Saskatchewan Huskies 3-0 (25-23, 25-23,25-15) snapping a six match losing streak. 

Winnipeg presently sits with a record of 1-6 and the Huskies return home with a record of 1-5. The Huskies’ men will also head to B.C. to meet UBC next weekend.

Basketball

  The Huskies women’s basketball team won their fifth straight game Nov. 19 at the PAC in Saskatoon stopping the undefeated streak of the visiting University of Winnipeg Wesmen dropping them 5-1 while the Huskies improved 7-2. 

Saskatchewan’s strong second half, in which they scored 43 points, gauranteed them the win. Turnovers also hurt the Wesmen as the Huskies scored 27 points off the 22 giveaways from Winnipeg. The two teams met again Nov. 20 resulting in the Huskies walking away with a 90-62 win. Fifth year point guard Jill Humbert led the Huskies with 20 points, 15 of those coming from the three-point line. 

The win extended the Huskies streak to six straight games, raising their record to 8-2. The match against Winnipeg will be the last for the Huskies before the December break, while Winnipeg will return home to host the Trinity Western University Spartans Nov. 26 and 27.  The Huskies will be hosting the Radisson Invitational tournament December 28-31 at the PAC.

  The CIS champion Huskies men’s basketball team faired just as well in their match up against the Winnipeg men’s team on Nov. 19. Saskatchewan finished the game shooting 59 per cent while the Wesmen just shot 28 per cent.  Huskies also triumphed from the Wesmen giveaways gaining 33 points off those turnovers alone. 

Winnipeg was unable to close the gap made by the Huskies in the first quarter.  The victory continued on the second day of play Nov. 20 as the Saskatchewan Huskies easily dominated the Wesmen. 

The 64-31 win moves the No. 5 ranked Huskies to 7-3 and they continue on with their four game winning streak, dropping the Wesmen 1-6.  The Wesmen men will be heading home to host the Trinity Western University Spartans Nov. 26 and 27.

Hockey

  It was a hard weekend of play for the Huskies women’s hockey team as the CIS champion University of Alberta Pandas took a 2-1 win Nov. 19 in Saskatoon’s Rutherford Rink. 

Despite a last minute goal by Huskie Danny Stone, the Huskies could not score the second goal required to push them into overtime.  The Huskies and Pandas met again the following night, Nov. 20, with the Pandas hitting the scoreboard first with power play goals at 11:53 and 17:18 in the first period, both made by Sarah Hilworth. Huskies forward Cara Wooster got her team on the board with her eighth goal of the season at 10:33 in the second period and Sarah White tied the game 2-2 at 15:14 in the third. 

With seven seconds left in the game, Panda Karla Bourke blasted the puck past Huskies net-minder Mackenzie Rizos sealing a second win for the Pandas. With the wins this weekend Alberta moves 8-3-1 in the standings while Saskatchewan drops 7-5. Next stop for the Huskies will be in Lethbridge against the Pronghorns, which will close out the first half of the Canada West season.

  The No. 7 ranked University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team headed to Edmonton facing off against the No. 1 Alberta Golden Bears Nov. 19 and 20 at Clare Drake Arena. The Bears and Huskies engaged in a back and forth battle, with the Bears taking the lead only to have the Huskies answer back, resulting in a final response by Huskies Jesse Zetariuk with only 2:49 left in the game.

Unfortunately for Saskatchewan, Alberta took the lead for the final time finishing the game 6-4 for the Golden Bears. The next game took place Nov. 20, with the Saskatchewan Huskies completing a 4-3 win over the Bears when fourth year defenceman Jesse Zetariuk blew a slapshot past the Alberta goalie Real Cyr. This win over Alberta was only the second for Saskatchewan in the last 13 Canada West games going back to 2007-08 and was the first loss at home for Alberta. 

The Golden Bears travel to Winnipeg next to face off with the second place Manitoba Bisons. The last place Lethbridge Pronghorns will meet with the Huskies at Rutherford Arena this coming weekend.

– –
image: Pete Yee