Serving up the 2025-26 MRU volleyball teams
Zafir Nagji, Sports Editor
USPORTS volleyball is back, and with it comes the return of the Mount Royal University Cougars to their home gymnasium at Kenyon Court. Teams from the Canada West conference, where MRU plays, have won 89 per cent of the Women’s Volleyball National Tournaments and 90 per cent of the 40 Men’s Volleyball National Tournaments since U SPORTS updated its format to a single-elimination tournament.
If that wasn’t enough pressure, Mount Royal will host the U SPORTS Volleyball National Tournament in 2027 and 2028, making development in 2025 and 2026 imperative for a good performance on the national stage. So, how will the Cougars stack up this season on their way to potential national glory?
Women’s volleyball
It’s a well-known fact in most sports that veteran teams succeed when the competition is at its toughest. Their window for success is also much tighter than that of younger teams, but with expectations set much higher, veteran teams play with immense pressure on their shoulders at every moment of every game of every season. The Cougars women’s volleyball team is ready for all of that smoke and more, as some of the best players in the country don navy blue for MRU and take their places on Kenyon Court for one last dance.
Take Bronwynn Davies-Neira, for example. At six-feet tall, the fourth-year outside hitter possesses the hardest spike on the team by far, deafeningly killing the ball at her opponents’ expense and screaming in celebration every time. Having been a Cougar for the entirety of her collegiate volleyball career, Davies-Neira is entering her final season of U SPORTS eligibility and has never been more determined to bring championship silverware home.
“Knowing this is my last chance as a Cougar to win it for my school, my team and my girls, I’m just laying everything on the line,” Davies-Neira said. “This is my last preseason, my last time playing with my rookies and seeing these girls come in and watching them grow… everything I have is being given to this team, which is making me more of a leader and somebody these girls can look up to, which makes me really happy.”
The Cougars waved goodbye to one of their greatest women’s volleyball players of all time last season, Emma Boyd, who spent her whole collegiate career at MRU. As if graduating with 518 career kills wasn’t impressive enough, the six-foot-two-inch tall middle blocker went on to play professionally in France for Volley-Ball Club Chamalières.
Head coach Rhonda Schmuland, who led the Cougars to the playoffs in her first year last season and played professionally in France as well, isn’t intimidated by the prospect of playing without their legendary middle-blocker and has an infinite reserve of faith in her team.
“Any of the women in our gym would have the ability and the opportunity to go pro, if that was something they chose to do,” Schmuland said. “When players graduate, I very rarely ever see it as a loss. We love our alumni dearly, but as a coach, one of the things that you’re hopefully continuing to do is to build up the next people that are going to have the opportunity to do great things. We’ve got a great group here and I’m excited for the people that are going to step up.”
Davies-Neira and Sydney Scatcherd will pair up for the fourth year in a row as the twin towers of the team, but without a third skyscraper, the Cougars will be searching through their roster for the final piece of their front-row wall. Players like Awien Ngor, Faith Obasi and others will be given a real opportunity to compete for a roster spot and consistent playing time as the women’s team looks to return to National Championship contention.
Men’s volleyball
Last year was a difficult season for Cougars men’s volleyball fans. Moving on from the Chris Byam era was never going to be easy, but even as the team only managed to muster up a 5-15 record on their way to missing the playoffs, head coach Shawn Sky believes the team got what they needed: a harsh reality check.
“You actually have to learn how to train at this level, and you have to learn how to compete, in all honesty,” Sky said. “There’s training to train, training to compete, and competing to compete… factually, the group we had last year, whether they want to know it or hear it or not, were closer to training to train, but at times, we were approaching training to compete.”
Sky knew that the youth of this squad last year came with their own curses and blessings and stayed level to help his boys learn on their journeys to becoming men.
“There’s no real substitute for experience,” Sky said. “We all had to go through that together in terms of them understanding what the standards were and what the level of play is… so much of that learning also takes place off the court in terms of learning how professional and mature you need to be in your preparation.”
As mentioned earlier, Canada West is home to the best volleyball teams and players in the country, making that 25 per cent win rate all the more impressive in context. According to Sky, some of the team’s younger players spent their summers gaining experience in the off-season with their provincial and national teams, giving them extra practice at high levels of competition to prepare them for a tough season ahead.
“We had three guys this year that were fortunate enough and worked hard enough and earned the right to go to Canada games, and they’re all true first-years,” Sky said. “Two from Alberta, one from Manitoba, and they competed all the way up until they actually met in the final against each other… everybody’s going to learn one way or the other, and come into training camp and into the year with a different mindset.”
MRU only missed the playoffs by two games, with the low moment of the season coming in their loss to the MacEwan University Griffins—that team’s only win of the season. That being said, six-foot-six-inch tall outside-hitter Ryan John believes that the Cougars will enter the Canada West playoff picture this season—and not by just scraping in.
“We have a group going forward that’s able to push ourselves and find a new level to play at,” John said. “We’re still learning a lot… we’re one of the most physical teams in the league, so I’m excited.”
Even though the team is relatively young, Coach Sky’s expectations remain high, balanced by his cautioning his players about letting their time as student-athletes slip away.
“Your time as a university student goes by quickly,” Sky said. “The days might be slow, or that month might be slow, but the years are actually really fast.”
With over a decade of experience at the helm of the men’s volleyball team and an unconcealable love for sport as a whole, Sky looks to lead his men into battle and refuses to settle for anything less than a deep playoff run.
“The guys have got a goal of being a top six team and that would be great, that would put us in the mix,” Sky said. “Even though you have the entire season, you truly do have to take it one week at a time, and if you’re looking past or ahead, you’re in trouble… we might be one of the most physical teams in the conference.”
The Cougars will open their volleyball seasons at home, with the men’s team hosting the Thompson Rivers University Wolfpack on Friday, Oct. 17 at 6 p.m. on Kenyon Court. The women’s team also open their season at home, with the first serve set for Friday, Oct. 24 at 6 p.m. Home games are free for students to attend and all games are broadcast live on Canada West TV.
