Providence claims MCAC women's volleyball title

A year after the Providence University College Pilots fell one win shy of a perfect season, they had a perfect weekend at the best possible time.
The Pilots swept the Canadian Mennonite University Blazers 2-0 in the MCAC women's volleyball championship series at CMU's Loewen Athletic Centre, claiming their first league title since 2018.
"It feels unreal, it feels unbelievable," said setter Amanda Bergen, who was named championship MVP.
"It feels really great to break the drought that we had.
"I feel like a lot of us got extra reps outside of practice and this year we worked a lot on our mental game to be able to go through those tough moments."
The Pilots made it look easy during Friday's 3-0 win, then lost the first set on Saturday as the Blazers came out fighting in their must-win game.
PUC bounced back well to tie the match, then pulled off two close set wins to seal it. There was no doubt as everyone on the sideline rushed the floor this year that the Pilots were the top team.
"We didn't just win with the seven on the court. I feel like we won with 15 players," Bergen said.
"No one was afraid to make a mistake because you trusted the people around you not to be upset at you, which I feel helped us a lot because you knew your teammates had your back."
The Pilots were 18-0 entering last year's playoffs on home court. While they lost one match to the Blazers and one to the Assiniboine College Cougars, they went 16-2 and felt more prepared for the playoffs this time.
"In the back of our heads it did help a bit knowing these teams have beat us before," Bergen said.
"It also helped us realize what our weaknesses are on our side."
Now, Providence has a week to tune up for CCAA nationals on March 5-8 in Oshawa, Ontario.
"Our next plan is just to get all the extra reps we could possible get, watch footage from other teams and game plan as much as we can," Bergen said.