Taylor Ungar turns position change into record-breaking career

When Taylor Ungar came to the University of Regina to play volleyball, she came as a left-side hitter.

But after making a difficult position change to libero, Ungar finds herself in the Canada West record books and helping the team push for a home playoff series.

Head Coach Melanie Sanford said she could tell Ungar had all the attributes it took to make the switch while she was recruiting her.

“I think it’s been an interesting transition for her to go from a left-side hitter to a libero, it’s not always easy and I think that’s been a process over the years.”

That process has led to massive results for the five-year Cougars player. During her career, Ungar has compiled a list of school and Canada West records, which include becoming the all-time digs leader for the conference with 1,323 with four games still remaining.

Ungar said the record was more of a reflection of her teammates than just herself.

“I know it meant a lot for me to do it on home court, which was nice especially in my fifth year and hopefully it’s not my last night playing at home,” she said.

Sanford said the growth she’s seen out of Ungar during her five years with the team is something a coach hopes to see in all their athletes.

“If you have the right approach to it, to the process of getting better, it’s possible for anyone. If you do not have the right approach to it, it makes it very challenging so we encourage our student-athletes to work hard at it.”

Ungar is hoping to get at least one more chance to play inside the U of R gym. After only 11 wins in her first three seasons with the team, the team found its way to the quarter-finals last season, with a chance to host them this year.

The team is heading into the final two weekends of Canada West regular season play on a six-match winning streak.

“I think we’re looking forward to the next couple of games, I think we’ve built a lot of confidence going into last season and going into quarters. I think going into playoffs this year, we have more confidence and know a bit more about ourselves going into playoffs.”

Sanford said they are just keeping focus on one game at a time.

“There is no secret to the secret, we’re trying to not get ahead of ourselves and that is something we’re trying to talk about every day.”

The team will travel to Kelowna to meet UBC Okanagan before travelling to Manitoba the following weekend