Halifax, NS – In the home opening match for the Dalhousie Tigers, they hosted the Acadia Axewomen in matinee action on Sunday. Serving and blocking made the biggest difference for the Tigers in this one, as they were able to come away with the 3-0 win.
The Axewomen hitters were doing a great job of picking their spots and forcing the Tigers into some defensive errors early in the first set.
With a tight score at 11-10 for the Tigers, coach Rick Scott called a timeout to get his team back on track, and they did just that. Forcing the Axewomen into a string of errors through great serving from Victoria Turcot (Halifax, NS), the Tigers picked up 5-straight points to head into the technical break with a big block from Victoria Haworth (Waverly, NS).
The run continued out of the timeout for the Tigers, extending the lead to 19-10 before a timeout from the Axewomen gave Lucy Glen-Carter (Toronto, ON) a chance to hammer home a kill to end the streak.
The lead in the first set was too much for the Axewomen to overcome, as a swing from Turcot took a deflection off a defender and out to give the Tigers the 25-16 win in the opening set.
Serving and blocking continued to be the story early in the second set, as the Tigers continued to get the better of both from Haworth jump out to a quick lead once again.
The Axewomen were able to force the Tigers into errors, and Glen-Carter leading the offense to keep the score within reach, but the Tigers once again took a lead into the technical timeout at 16-10.
The lead continued to grow for the Tigers in the set, as Catherine Callaghan (Halifax, NS) was able to make a beautiful diving dig on a crafty dump play from Sydney Zakutney (Ottawa, ON) that led to a Tigers block, and finishing off a 25-15 win in the set.
The Axewomen started the third set with some new energy, picking up some great serving from Taylor Collombin (Victoria, BC) and back to back blocks from Zakutney and Hannah Helm (Halifax, NS) to give their team the first real lead of the match so far at 9-6.
The Tigers slowly worked their way back however, with Turcot and Julie Moore (Halifax, NS) picking up kills to push their team back in front at 13-11 before eventually taking a 16-12 lead into the technical timeout as a swing from Jamie Crocket (Stellarton, NS) sailed wide.
Getting their first-year middle Myriam Arseneau (Dieppe, NB) going, the Tigers once again started to pull away in the set.
Glen-Carter refused to let her team give up however, picking up her 13th kill of the match to keep their hopes alive at 24-21, but a huge cross-court kill from Victoria Haworth on the right side closed out the straight-set victory for the Tigers.
The Tigers will hit the road for a set of back-to-back games next weekend at UNB, while the Axewomen will play two games in Moncton next weekend.
Provided by Kirk Jessome, Dalhousie Tigers Communications
Photo by Trevor McMillan