The Saskatchewan Huskies women’s volleyball team opened up their 2016-17 season at the PAC with a pair of losses to the No. 8-ranked UBC Thunderbirds. After dropping their home opener on Oct. 28 0-3 (25-27, 21-25, 24-26), Saskatchewan battled back on Oct. 29 and pushed the defending Canada West bronze medalists to five sets, succumbing 10-15 in the fifth (25-22, 22-25, 25-20, 12-25, 10-15).
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Despite starting the season 0-2, co-captain and fifth-year middle hitter Emily Humbert is optimistic about her teams performance. “For us to be within two points every set on Friday, and then take them to five on Saturday, that’s good for us. We really want to win those games, we’re not satisfied. But we are happy and we’ve taken away the positives.”
“If you can feel good from any loss, I think we should feel good about that one,” added fourth-year setter Mackenzie Pek, who had a team high 17 digs on the weekend.
Head coach Mark Dodds, who is in his second season with the team, was pleased with his squad’s effort. “We battled very hard and gave ourselves a chance to win. In a tough conference, if we put ourselves in that situation each weekend, we’ll be pretty satisfied.”
The Huskies haven’t been in the post-season since 2003, save for when they hosted the national championships in 2005 and 2006. But their goal this season is to change those dates.
“We fully expect and hope to make playoffs this year. That’s been ongoing for a couple year’s that we’ve been pushing for that,” Pek explained.
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Fifth-year Emmalyn Copping, who led the Huskies weekend effort with 23 kills in addition to 11 digs, has been with the group since 2012 and shares this year’s team expectations. “We want to come together, play as a group, and push further than we’ve ever gone before.”
“We’ve got a fire in us, because we know we can compete like we haven’t been able to in the past,” added Humbert, who is also in her fifth year and has seen the team grow.
The Huskies have added six new players to their roster, but return a key core group. They’ve also added some extra-curricular off court training.
“We have mental training now, and we have a lot more opportunity to build confidence now,” said co-captain Copping.
The Huskies have games on the road against MacEwan and Regina, and will be back home against Brandon on Nov. 25.
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