Weekend sweep for women
Acadia volleyball team tied for second in AUS standings
Winning nine of their last 10 matches, the Axewomen volleyball team had a decisive 3-2 win over the visiting Saint Mary’s Huskies Feb. 4 in the second of two home matches.
The Axewomen, with an 11-5 record, are tied in second place with Huskies in the AUS women’s volleyball standings.
The Axewomen edged Saint Mary’s 28-26 in the opening game and fell short in winning two sets in a row with a 25-21 loss in the second.
Acadia held on to a lead for the entire third set, allowing Saint Mary’s to come within one at 9-8 on a kill by Kristina Adler.
The Huskies flipped the coin in the fourth set, remaining alive with a 25-18 victory. The match win came with a fifth 15-13 game victory over the Huskies.
Out of the gates quickly in the fifth set, the Axewomen pushed out to an 8-4 lead, but Huskies worked back to an 8-7 deficit on a Lindsay Donovan kill and two Emilia Conlon service aces.
An Acadia timeout at this point was called by Acadia’s coach Michelle Wood. Senior outside hitter Sarah Ross noted at this point, the set was very similar to a match a week ago in a fifth set loss to the Huskies in Halifax.
“It was all a blur. It’s easy to get caught up in the crowd and the environment. You just have to stay focused and in your bubble. She essentially said to do your job and get it done. We had the exact scenario last weekend. We didn’t want that to happen again,” said Ross.
Daniella Trodel posted nine kills and had a hitting efficiency of 0.300. Teammate Sarah Ross posted 18 kills. Rookie Lucy Glencarter and Lauryn Renzella added 14 and 13 kills, respectively.
On the defensive side of the net, Kailey Evans had an amazing 39 digs and Glen-carter had five solo blocks. Third-year setter Regan Herrington had to 47 assists.
Tied with 11-5 records, the odds of the Huskies and Axewomen meeting in semi-final play are high. Ross knows a lot can happen in the remaining four matches – three against Memorial and the season-ending match at Dalhousie.
“A lot can happen and we just have to take it one day at a time, but I think whoever we match up against (in the playoffs) we will be ready for them,” said Ross.
“They are a very strong offensive team. On our offense, we did a good job moving them around and finding the holes, but we need to prevent them from scoring as much and so we will need to work on our defense.”
Sweep against Moncton
In the final meeting between both teams this season, the Axewomen volleyball team swept the Moncton Aigles Bleus in three sets on Feb. 2.
Veteran outside hitter Sarah Ross posted a game-high 10 kills and an amazing 0.500 hitting efficiency in the three-game win.
Tied at five in the opening game, the Axewomen pushed out to a 10-5 lead on the attacking of Ross and teammates Regan Herrington and Lauryn Renzella.
Down 15-10, the Aigles Bleus battled back to a 20-17 but kills by Glen-carter (2), Hannah Helm, and Renzella gave the Axewomen a 25-18 win.
The Axewomen posted a 10-0 run after a second set tie at 4. Service aces, attack errors, bad sets and ball handling errors resulted in an insurmountable Acadia lead that concluded with a 25-16 game win.
In the third and final game, Acadia struck early and delivered a 10-4 lead that would result in a 25-16 third set win and 3-0 match victory.
Hannah Helm, in the middle, and Lucy Glen-carter posted seven and six sets respectively, while teammate and Evans had 19 digs in a great defensive effort. Lucy Glen-carter led the Axewomen in service aces with three. Renzella posted a balanced match with six kills, five digs, three solo blocks and nine points.
On the losing end, Pascale Doiron had a team-high 8 kills and teammate Christelle Bertin added seven.
The Axewomen wrap up their home game season next weekend, hosting Memorial for three matches beginning on Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. followed by matches on Feb. 10 and Feb. 11 at 2 p.m.