Volleyball
Holland College teams play semifinal matches Saturday
The Holland Hurricanes look to win ACAA volleyball titles this weekend
The Holland Hurricanes are preparing to attend the 2018 Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association (ACAAA) volleyball championships this weekend. The event, which is being hosted by the St. Thomas Tommies in Fredericton, N.B., begins on Friday with the women’s quarter-final matches. The Hurricanes will suit up for the semifinals on Saturday.
The Holland College women enter the championship as the second seed after an 18-3 (wonlost) regular season. The men Hurricanes are ranked No. 1 at 13-2.
The women Hurricanes will take on the highest advancing winner of the quarter-finals on Saturday at 2 p.m. Top-ranked Mount Saint Vincent University Mystics will challenge the lowest-seeded team advancing in the other semifinal.
The women’s quarter-finals feature the fourth-seeded UNBSJ Seawolves taking on the fifth-seeded Mount Allison Mounties at 1 p.m., and the host Tommies (3) facing the UKC Blue Devils (6) at 3 p.m. The women’s Hurricanes were a perfect 3-0 against each of the competing quarter-final teams during the 2017-18 regular season. Megan LeBlanc led the ACAA in kills, finished second in kills per set and digs and finished fifth in digs per set during the regular season. Brittany States led the conference in hitting percentage while finishing second in kills and fourth in kills per set.
Dana Trainor led the ACAA in total digs and digs per set while Sam Gerbig led in service aces per set and Gracie Ferguson
led in total assists.
Men
The men’s Hurricanes will kick off their championship on Saturday at 5 p.m., when they take on the fourth-seeded Université de Sainte-Anne Dragons in men’s semifinal action. This season, the Hurricanes won all five matches versus the Dragons, each in straight sets. The Dragons finished the regular season 0-15.
The Hurricanes had several players sit near the top of the statistical leaders in the ACAA during the regular season.
Brett Butler led the conference in total kills and kills per set, finished in second in hitting percentage and fourth in service aces per set. Nicholas Menzies led the ACAA in assists per set while Gordon Veitch finished third in service aces per set, kills and kills per set, fourth in hitting percentage, digs and digs per set. Marcus Lapointe finished second in digs per set and third in total digs while Jeff MacDonald finished third in blocks per set. Nathan Archibald was third in assists per set while Aaron Pugh finished in fifth in service aces per set.