Box Score

Jamie Wilkins had a match-high 18 kills to lead the University of Regina's men's volleyball team to a straight-sets victory over the Winnipeg Wesmen on Saturday night at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

The Cougars trailed for the majority of the first set, but scored a 25-23 comeback win after taking four of the set's final five points. In the second set, the Cougars jumped out to a six-point lead at the second media timeout, but five consecutive points by Winnipeg put the Wesmen right back in it. Regina withstood the Wesmen challenge, though, and took a two-set lead in the match after ending the set on another 4-1 run.

The third set featured 12 tie scores and three lead changes as the two teams were never separated by more than two points before the second media timeout. The Cougars pulled away late, and a kill by Drew Smith gave the U of R its second Canada West victory of the season.

“We played a good clean game tonight and really minimized our errors,” Cougars head coach Greg Barthel said. “Caleb (Eschbach) did a good job distributing the ball and (Jamie) Wilkins played a good game offensively and was sound on the block as well.”

Eschbach, who got the start at setter on Saturday after performing admirably during the third set of Friday's loss, ended up with 42 assists – the most by a Cougar setter in a three-set match since Ryan DeCosse dished out 43 against Manitoba on Feb. 3, 2006.

Wilkins had a match-high 18 kills for the Cougars and hit for a .371 percentage. Leon Dyck had 12 kills for the Cougars and matched Lindsey Isaak for the team lead with eight digs.

Marc Ross led Winnipeg in kills for the second time in as many nights, recording 13 in the loss. Brendan Black had 12 kills for Winnipeg, while Dan Lother had 41 assists and seven digs. Matthew Stubler led all players with nine digs for the Wesmen (2-10).

The Cougars hit a season-high .340 during the match, helping them to improve their Canada West record to 2-10, while Winnipeg hit at a .225 clip.

The Cougars will be back at home next weekend against Brandon, while Winnipeg will host the No. 2-ranked Alberta Golden Bears.

NOTES: The Cougars' win snapped a 23-match losing streak against the Wesmen … the last time the Cougars beat Winnipeg prior to Saturday was Nov. 16, 2002 … the three-set win for the Cougars is the team's first straight-sets victory since the 2005-06 campaign.