If you weren’t at the Duckworth Centre this past Friday, Feb. 5, you missed some great games.

As the Wesmen Volleyball teams took on the Regina rivals the term “brick wall” was used solely to represent the Wesmen Men’s team.

The Two Justins (Town and Duff) are two well-known players for the Wesmen. If you attend a game you will hear their names being shouted out with cheers very often.

Yet this past Friday one more name was added to everyone’s top player books: Marc Ross. The spiker shined and showed the Regina Cougars how it’s done.

He was the only player to spend the entire three winning sets on the court. The crowd was going wild for him, and he ended the game with the team’s high 15 kills and eight digs.

The Wesmen shut the Cougars out 3 to 0 sets and upped their record to 10 wins over five losses. The Wesmen will need to win at least two more of their next four games to host the starting round of the playoffs.

The Wesmen Women’s team struggled through five sets to try and solidify a place in the playoff rounds. After Regina beat the Wesmen in the two first sets, Winnipeg played catch up, it seemed, for the rest of the game. But Regina beat out the Wesmen in a high-impact fifth set, leaving the game 3 to 2 sets for the Cougars.

Saturday night (Feb. 6)  the Wesmen Women once again lost to the Cougars in a fifth set tug-of-war. Wesmen’s Carleen Kruschel took joy in digging the game’s high 26. Rebecca Rink, a Winnipeg-born Regina athlete, brought a crowd of her own to watch the games. Sonia Rossy broke the barrier with her 23 digs and 17 kills. The Regina Cougars won the game holding their 6thplace ranking.

Saturday night the Wesmen Men’s team shut out Regina to earn ring their winning streak to nine straight games. The Wesmen are looking to host the playoffs and will make that concrete next weekend. Marc Ross again brought more to the table than the crowd expected, scoring the team’s high of 10 kills while Andrew Town contributed another nine. The Wesmen beat the Cougars 3 sets to 0.

“I think we’re looking strong going into the playoffs,” Wesmen Men’s team player Justin Duff said. “We’ve got the correct guys to be a contender. I think we’re going to have every opportunity to place strongly, it’s just whether or not we respond to the degree other teams challenge.”

Both Wesmen teams will be hitting off another weekend series this Friday, Feb. 12 and Saturday, Feb. 13 with the last home games before playoffs. The Duckworth Centre will be hosting the 4th and 8th place Calgary volleyball teams. Games start at 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.

Published in Volume 64, Number 19 of The Uniter (February 11, 2010)