On Friday, November 3, the Providence Pilots women’s volleyball season began with a bang as interim head coach Kyle Guenther led his team to victory over the Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) Blazers.
On Friday, third-year leftside Tyra Peters scored 19 points (11 kills, three blocks, and five aces from the service line) and teammate Serena Algera wasn’t far behind with 12 kills while defensively adding 16 important digs in the three-set win.
Middle blocker Kadence Bolen also shone in the game with seven blocks and six kills.
The final set scores of the night were 25–23, 25–11, and 25–18.
Peters and Algera were the stars again on Saturday with 25 combined kills as the Pilots faced the Blazers once again. Providence won the first set 25–22, but CMU prevailed in set two. Sets three and four saw Providence gain back their momentum with 25–23 and 25–18 set wins.
The men’s volleyball team and their new head coach Paul Ambruster had a disappointing start to their season, losing both of their weekend games to the CMU Blazers.
There was a full house at CMU for these matches due to a long-standing rivalry between the two teams.
“It has been in the Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference (MCAC) playoffs that the Blazers have shone brighter, until last spring when the lower-ranking Otterburne outfit surprised the defending champions, scoring a sweep and advancing to Providence’s first Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Men’s Volleyball National Championship,” says Russell Willms, Providence’s director of athletics.
Friday’s game was won by CMU with the Pilots only taking set three. 2022–23 MCAC player of the year Noah Boschmann led the Pilots, scoring with 14 kills in the match. Leftside Arturo Duran Tosta had four aces from the service line in support of his 12 kills.
Saturday’s game began well for the Pilots with a first set score of 25–16. Sets two and three were close ones with Providence falling 23–25 and 25–26, but the fourth set clinched the Blazers victory with a 19–25 win.
Rookie setter Marcus Zielstra received his first start and produced 36 assists while Avery Bergmann added 11 kills.
Boschmann once again delivered the points for the Pilots, scoring a game-high 19 kills and adding five aces through four sets.
Both the men’s and women’s team home openers will take place this coming Friday and Saturday against the Assiniboine Community College (ACC) Cougars. The weekend’s games will be played at Niverville High School since the CRRC’s fieldhouse floor is still under repair.