HALIFAX, N.S. - The Saint Mary's Huskies women's volleyball team defeated the Acadia Axewomen at Dalplex on Friday afternoon in the first game of the AUS League Tournament at Dalhousie. The victory for Saint Mary's extended their unbeaten run to start the season to seven games.
Acadia came out the more aggressive of the two teams to start the first set. Taylor Collombin (Victoria, BC) had three early kills, and would finish the first set with seven kills. Saint Mary's stuck around through the early pressure though and forced an Acadia timeout to stop the momentum with the Huskies leading 9-6. The Axewomen used the timeout well and came out with two blocks in a row from Wesley-Ann Bailey (Ottawa, ON).
A quick four-point run, including back-to-back aces from Kate Kramer (Vancouver, BC), swung the first set 16-14 in Acadia's favour. The Axewomen held their lead until the Huskies made it 22-22 thanks to a run fueled by their strong team defence - 21 digs as a team - as well as four kills and no attacking errors each from Megan Bruhm (Hubley, NS) and Anica Jestratijevic (Arandjelovac, Serbia). After a hard-fought battle, Acadia took the first set 26-24.
In a reverse of the first set, it was Saint Mary's who came out on the front foot in the second set. The Huskies built an 8-5 lead punctuated by a kill from Bethany Smith (Moncton, NB) that forced Acadia into a timeout.
Acadia's Olivia Haley (South Glengarry, ON) hit two aces in a row to give them back the lead at 9-8. However, neither team was able to create much separation in the set with the teams trading points back and forth until Saint Mary's had two points in a row to grab a 19-17 lead. The set remained tight until the Huskies closed it out and won the second set 25-22, evening the game at one set a piece. Saint Mary's Nada Hassanin (Cairo, Egypt) and Acadia's Sydney Zakutney (Ottawa, ON) stood out in the second set with three kills each.
The third set saw the Huskies make a statement early; a 6-2 lead for the Huskies was a sign of things to come in the early stages of the set. Unlike in the first two sets, Acadia wasn't able to enjoy as many clean hits at the net which saw their attacking errors start to add up. When Saint. Mary's lead got up to 12-6 Acadia began to grow into the set. The Axe-women kept cutting into Saint Mary's lead until they evened the score at 15-15. Again, it was Taylor Collombin for Acadia whose kill tied the game up.
Even after the Huskies strong start to the third set, it was another close one right until the end. The Huskies eventually won the set 25-22 thanks to an ace from Jakobie Friesen (Barrie, ON) on set point and took a 2-1 lead in the game.
Even after three hard-fought sets, the energy and intensity didn't drop in the fourth set as there were many back-and-forth rallies and plenty of impressive effort plays on defence from both teams.
An ace from Bruhm made it 16-12 for the Huskies in the fourth set and Acadia called a timeout to regroup. However, the pressure from Saint Mary's paid off. They maintained their lead for the rest of the set and took it 25-16.
The win in the fourth set won Saint Mary's the game 3-1 and kept their unbeaten run going to start the season.
The Subway Player of the Game was Saint Mary's Anica Jestratijevic who finished with 12 kills and 17 digs. Meanwhile, Sydney Zakutney had a strong showing for Acadia with eight kills, four assists, and 12 digs.
Both teams play tomorrow at Dalplex. Acadia's second game of the AUS League Tournament at Dalhousie is tomorrow at 3 pm when they face Memorial. Meanwhile, Saint Mary's plays Moncton tomorrow at 5 pm in their second tournament game.