By Regina Cougars Sports Information
REGINA (CIS) – The Dalhousie University Tigers advanced to the 2014 CIS women's volleyball semifinal round with a four set victory (25-21, 15-25, 25-19, 25-23) over the Trinity Western University Spartans at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health and Sport in Regina on Friday.
CHAMPIONSHIP WEBSITE: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wvball/index
With their upset of the No. 3 Trinity Western Spartans, Dalhousie became the first Atlantic University Sport team to reach the CIS women's volleyball semifinal round since 1984, when the Tigers won silver.
Dalhousie is also the only AUS team to win the CIS women's volleyball championship, when they did so in 1982.
Dalhousie will meet the winner of Friday afternoon's match between No. 2 Manitoba and No. 7 Ottawa in the first semifinal on Saturday, which is set for 6 p.m. CST, live on www.CIS-SIC.tv.
Desiree Nouwen, in her first year with the Tigers, led the team with 15 kills to go along with 14 digs. Maggie Lie and Katherine Ryan each chipped in with 10 kills, and Ryan added 11 digs. Abby Czene had 33 assists for the Tigers.
Sophie Carpentier was kill leader for the Spartans with 19, followed by Alicia Perrin with 10. Carperntier also added 12 digs. Casie Gano was in on nine blocks for TWU.
Trinity Western will meet the loser of the second quarterfinal between Ottawa and Manitoba in Saturday's consolation semifinal, slated for 1 p.m. CST at the CKHS.
Dalhousie held the lead for most of the first set, leading 16-9 at the technical timeout. The Tigers then held off a late run from the Spartans, en route to taking the opener 25-21.
Trinity Western started to turn around the match in the second set as they jumped out to an 8-1 lead over the Tigers, but could not continue the momentum late into the third set, which remained tight until Dalhousie went on a late run to claim the set 25-19. The pivotal third set included five ties and four lead changes.
The Spartans then led the fourth set 16-10 at the technical timeout but fell victim to a strong push by Dalhousie, dropping the deciding set 25-23.
Dalhousie out-hit Trinity Western at .165 compared to the Spartans .119, although Trinity Western ended up with one more kill at 46.
STAT LEADERS
Boxscore: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wvball/2014/championship
Trinity Western
Kills: Sophie Carpentier (19), Alicia Perrin (10)
Points: Sophie Carpentier (23.5), Alicia Perrin (14)
Blocks: Cassie Gano (9)
Digs: Kirsten Moncks (15)
Service aces: Alicia Perrin (3)
Player of the match: Alicia Perrin
Dalhousie
Kills: Desiree Nouwen (15), Maggie Li, Katherine Ryan (10)
Points: Desiree Nouwen (15), Maggie Li (13.5)
Blocks: Tara Gowan (6)
Digs: Desiree Nouwen, Abby Czenze (13)
Service aces: Abby Czenze (3)
Player of the match: Desiree Nouwen
CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE (all times CENTRAL TIME)
Friday, February 28
13:00 Quarter-final #1: Dalhousie 3, Trinity Western 1 (25-21, 15-25, 25-19, 25-23)
15:00 Quarter-final #2: No. 2 Manitoba vs. No. 7 Ottawa (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
18:00 Quarter-final #3: No. 1 UBC vs. No. 8 Regina (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
20:00 Quarter-final #4: No. 4 Laval vs. No. 5 McMaster (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
Saturday, March 1
13:00 Consolation #1: Trinity Western vs. Loser quarter-final #2 (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
15:00 Consolation #2: Loser quarter-final #3 vs. Loser quarter-final #4 (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
18:00 Semifinal #1: Dalhousie vs. Winner quarter-final #2 (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
20:00 Semifinal #2: Winner quarter-final #3 vs. Winner quarter-final #4 (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
Sunday, March 2
13:00 5th place (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
15:00 Bronze medal (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
18:00 Championship final (www.CIS-SIC.tv)