St. JOHN'S, NL - The Memorial Sea-Hawks women's volleyball team downed the visiting Acadia Axewomen on Saturday night at the Field House with a 3-1 victory, the first of two weekend matches. Set scores were 19-25, 25-22, 25-19, and 25-21.
The Axewomen provided an early challenge for the Sea-Hawks, taking the first set 25-19. In the second set, however, Memorial came back rejuvenated, and started to pull ahead. Acadia managed to stay within a few points for the rest of the set but it wasn't enough to surpass the Sea-Hawks who took it 25-22.
From then on the Sea-Hawks went on to own the third and fourth sets, taking the lead early in both. The Axewomen did what they could to tie it in the third and keep it as close as three points in the fourth, but it wasn't enough to surpass the home team. The last two set scores were 25-19 and 25-21, posting a decisive 3-1 win for Memorial.
Fourth year Lauren Miller (Oromocto, N.B.) led Memorial with 13 kills and 19 digs in the win. Rookie Kimberley Bauder (Langley, B.C.) also had an impressive game with nine kills and a team-high 25 digs.
Outside hitter, Jazmin Prest (Wolfville, N.S.) was the only Axewomen in double digits in the loss with 11 kills. Libero Hillary Monette (New Minas, N.S.) contributed 26 digs for her team.
The Sea-Hawks defeated the Acadia Axewomen in a tight match-up pushed to five sets in the second of two weekend matches in Newfoundland. The result was a sweep for the home team who increased their winning streak to four games.
Memorial finished the first set up 27-25 over the visitors, though it wasn't easy. At one point Acadia led by as much as five points, but the Sea-Hawks managed to close the gap and brought it to a tie at 25 points. Memorial sealed the deal when fifth year Kirsten Sorensen (Red Deer, A.B.) set up a kill for Lauren Miller (Oromocto, N.B), and left side Jill Snow (Bishop's Falls, N.L.) provided a service ace.
In the second, Acadia opened the set strong and at one instance, led by seven points over the home team. Memorial managed to claw back to tie the set at 25 but a ball handling error by the Sea-Hawks and a service ace by Jazmin Prest (Wolfville, N.S.) took the set 28-26 for the Axewomen.
The third set saw Acadia on the scoreboard first, but the Sea-Hawks turned it around and made quick work of the visitors with a 25-15 win. In the fourth, the tables turned and Memorial was unable to catch Acadia who were determined to push the match to five sets and finished the fourth up 25-12.
In the final set the Sea-Hawks took no chances, getting on the board early with a 4-0 run. The Axewomen rebounded to within two points but after contributing seven points of their own, ran out of gas and Memorial proved to be too much, taking the last up by eight.
Miller and Snow had a team-high 14 kills each for the Sea-Hawks and Snow contributed 23 digs to her tally. In her last home game for Memorial, setter Kirsten Sorensen produced 35 assists and 14 digs.
Prest once again led her team in kills, contributing a team-high 15 in the loss. Also in double digits for Acadia was Sarah Ross (Toronto, O.N) with 11 and Carlotta Frasca (Rome, ITA) with 10.
With the win, Memorial improves to 6-10 on the season, solidifying its fourth place position heading into the conference championship. Acadia falls to 3-13 with the loss, taking the sixth and last playoff position.
Both teams play next on February 13th in the quarter-final round of the Subway AUS Championship hosted by UNB. Memorial will play fifth seeded Moncton, and Acadia meet the Varsity Reds who finished third.
Provided by Memorial Sports Information