The Assiniboine Community College Cougars have had an eventful week, with both volleyball and hockey seasons beginning.

The women’s Cougars volleyball team hosted the North Dakota College Bottineau Ladyjacks on Friday, October 6th and Saturday, October 7th. The Cougars won their match in three sets on Friday night with narrow margins of 25-22, 25-21, and 28-26. Saturday was off to a shaky start, with a first set loss of 15-25, but the Cougars made a valiant come back in the subsequent sets with wins of 25-17, 25-20, and 25-22, giving them a win in four sets.

The Cougars men’s volleyball team was hosted by the Red River College Rebels, and had a much more rocky record than their female counterparts. They played in two matches on Friday, October 6th. The first was against the University of St. Boniface Les Rouges to open their season, and the Cougars lost in two sets with scores of 18-25 and 15-25. The men did not rebound in their second match against the Canadian Mennonite University Blazers despite their best efforts, losing in two sets once again with scores of 12-25 and 17-25 in favour of the Blazers. The men came back on Saturday, October 7th to play against the Red River College Rebels in round robin. The Rebels took both sets with scores of 25-15 and 25-22. The Cougars then took on the Providence University College Pilots, winning the first set 27-25, although the Pilots bounced back and won the match with scores of 25-12 and 15-11 in their favour.

The Cougars women’s hockey team started their season by travelling to Fargo this holiday weekend to play games on Saturday, October 7th and Sunday, October 8th against the North Dakota State University Bison. The women won their game on Saturday 4-1, with goals being scored by Karli Frederick, Blair Bodie, Sierra Parenteau, and Alyssa Alderson. The ladies came back on Sunday morning to face the Bison again. They played a hard game, with the Bison pulling out a win in overtime with a score of 3-2 in their favour.

Next weekend in sports, the Cougars men’s and women’s soccer teams will both be playing the Brandon University Bobcats on the HLC field on Saturday, October 14th. The women play at 1:00PM and the men play at 3:15PM. Sunday, October 15th, both teams head to Winnipeg to play the Red River College Rebels at Norm Konowalchuk Field. Both teams play at 12:00PM.

Also playing next weekend is the women’s Cougars volleyball team. The ladies are headed to Devil’s Lake, Dakota to play in the Sportscentre - Sleep Inn Slamfest pre-season volleyball tournament Saturday, October 14th and Sunday, October 15th.

We wish the Cougars luck in their coming games! For more information about the Cougars’ stats, players, and game schedules, see their website: assiniboine.net/athletics.