SASKATOON - After falling short on Friday night, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women's volleyball team snapped the MacEwan Griffins seven-game winning streak with a 3-0 win (26-24, 25-23, 25-21) to split the weekend series, on Jan. 4, 2020 on Ron & Jane Graham Centre Court at the PAC.
 
"We definitely did a lot of things better in terms of blocking and defending," said Huskies head coach Mark Dodds. "That was a huge win and we definitely needed that one after last night."
 
With their first win of the calendar year, Saskatchewan snaps their two-game losing skid and improves their record to 9-5. The win ties the Huskies with MacEwan in the standings as the two clubs are locked in a tie for fourth place in the conference.
 
Emily Koshinsky, who entered the night with 1,002.5 career points over her four seasons in the green and white, led the Huskies with 14 kills on the afternoon.
 
"She's a great player, and she's been one of our leaders throughout her career. It's fun to see her reach some milestones as an individual," said Dodds. "It's been fun watching her grow up and become the player that she is and I think the fans agree that she's pretty fun to watch."
 
Meanwhile, fellow outside hitter Olivia Mattern tacked on 13 kills of her own, while Shae Beaulieu led the Huskies with 18 digs.
 
On the Griffins side, Lauren Holmes led the visitors with nine kills, while tacking on three total blocks and seven digs. Carly Weber had a game-high two service aces, while Haley Gilfillan recorded five kills and a game-high five total blocks.
 
With MacEwan holding a 24-22 lead in the first set, Koshinsky took matters into her own hands for Saskatchewan. The fourth-year outside hitter recorded consecutive kills to tie the set up at 24-24, before putting up back-to-back blocks to win the set for the Huskies, 26-24.
 
"I love being the one that can be relied upon at the end of the set," said Koshinsky. "It gives me a lot of pride."
 
Saskatchewan rode the momentum of their first set win into the second frame, hopping out to a quick 9-4 advantage. However, MacEwan refused to go away chipping away at the deficit as the set wore on and trailed 18-16 in the late stages.
 
 But fortunately for Saskatchewan, once again Koshinsky stepped up when the team needed her most. Back-to-back Koshinsky kills gave the Huskies a 23-21 lead. However, Weber and McKenna Stevenson responded with kills of their own for the Griffins to tie the match up once again at 23-23. But this time, Saskatchewan pulled away for good off the backs of Koshinsky's 10th and Mattern's 11th kills of the afternoon, to give their team a 25-23 second set win, and a 2-0 advantage in the match.
 
Like the opening set, Saskatchewan held a 16-13 lead at the technical timeout and continued to hold the advantage late in the frame. While a Carly Weber kill was able to trim the Huskies lead to 22-20, Averie Allard set up Brooke Listwin for a huge spike of her own and after a MacEwan service error, the Huskies were presented with set point. From there it was Mattern, who for the second consecutive set delivered the dagger, with a thunderous smash that painted the backline. The kill gave Saskatchewan the 25-21 win, sealing a straight-set win for the home side.
 
The Huskies have next weekend off, as the club is on bye and won't be in action again until Jan. 17 & 18, when they take the floor at the PAC, continuing their six-game homestand against the Winnipeg Wesmen. The Griffins will trek back west to Edmonton and will look to get back in the win column as they play host to the visiting UBC Thunderbirds.