Tigers clinch a spot in AUS championship final

Source: Acadia Athletics

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The number one seeded Dalhousie Tigers will hope to win a fourth consecutive AUS championship after handing the fourth seeded Saint Mary's Huskies a 3-0 loss in semi-final action at Acadia's War Memorial Gymnasium.

AUS first team all-star Anna Dunn-Suen (Halifax, N.S.), named as the Subway Player of the Match, led the Tigers with a match high 11 kills.

The Tigers led for the first and second set's entirety and only for a brief moment trailed the Huskies at 10-12 before taking the lead at 13-10 in the third and final game.

Dalhousie was quick to pull out to a commanding 19-8 lead after an 8-0 run that featured Dunn-Suen's two kills and Victoria Haworth's (Waverly, N.S.) nine straight serves that included three service aces. The Tigers wrapped up the opening set with a 25-10 win.

The second set began with a quick 13-8 Tiger lead with Dalhousie registering five kills. The Huskies came to life near the end of the set but short of stopping the Tigers' 25-18 second game victory.

Trailing the Tigers 5-1 in the third frame, Saint Mary's battled back to a 12-10 advantage on a great defensive effort but eventually fell short as Dalhousie pulled away to a 25-18 third set win and a three game sweep of the Huskies.

Erica Dowling (Lower Sackville, N.S.) led the defensive effort with 10 digs and was named as the Huskies' Player of the Match. Maddie Clarke (Ottawa, Ont.) had a team high 6 kills for the Huskies.

Dunn-Suen added a Tiger high nine digs and posted a hitting efficiency of 0.391 on her 11 kills.

When asked what the key was to the Tigers win, Dunn-Suen pointed out that process was most important. "The key was to focus on the process and not look too far ahead and focusing on our side and not focusing on what they were doing. We felt we were prepared for whatever was going to come our way."

The win punches Dalhousie's ticket to the conference championship for the fourth year in a row.