Source: Acadia Athletics
WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The Dalhousie Tigers will have two weeks to prepare for the CIS national championship in Brandon, Man. after defeating the Memorial Sea-Hawks in four sets. The No. 1 seeded Tigers captured their fourth consecutive AUS Championship with a 3-1 win over the No. 2 Memorial Sea-Hawks.
Dalhousie was able to maintain composure after winning the first two games 25-16 and 25-16 before losing a tight 25-21 third set to the Sea-Hawks.
AUS Tournament All-Star and Tournament Most Valuable Player Anna Dunn-Suen (Halifax, N.S.) noted the team's importance process and focus during the championship match.
"Our team did an amazing job. For the most part, I don't think a single person looked at the score," said Dunn-Suen. "We were very focused and they (Memorial) played amazing in the third set. We kept to the process and good things happened."
Dunn-Suen posted the match high of 14 kills on 47 attacks and added a great defensive effort with 14 digs.
The Tigers led for the entire duration of the opening game after a 7-7 tie, leaving no opportunity for the Sea-Hawks to close the gap. Ahead by as much as eight, Dalhousie closed the set at 25-16.
Recording only one kill in the opening frame, Dunn-Suen left her best for last as the Tigers star posted only three kills in the second. The Tigers fell behind by 7-5 in the second set but gained control at 14-10 on a service ace by Abby Czenze (Halifax, N.S.). From this point onward Dalhousie would hold onto the lead and an eventual 25-15 second set victory.
A refocused Sea-Hawk squad pushed out to a 13-10 margin in the third set, with the hope of holding off elimination. Dalhousie's experienced squad climbed back to a 19-19 tie after a Dunn-Suen kill. The reining AUS champions couldn't capitalize on an opportunity to sweep the match in three and gave up a 25-21 loss to Memorial.
Climbing out of a 6-0 deficit, the Tigers pushed to leads of 14-7 and 18-11 on the work of Dunn-Suen who posted six of her 14 kills in the eventual final fourth set.
Mieke DuMont's (Kamloops, B.C.) kill nailed the coffin shut as the Tigers 25-17 fourth set victory gave Dalhousie their 21st conference championship since their first in 1971.
Sea-Hawk Jill Snow (Bishop's Fall, Nfld.), who was named the conference's MVP, had 11 kills and 16 digs along with one service ace and a solo block. Snow was also named to the AUS Championship tournament all-star team. AUS Rookie of the Year, Kierstin Fey (Selkirk, Man.), posted 6 kills and nine digs while teammate Krista Hogan (Kippens, Nfld.), who was named the Subway Player of the Match had five kills, 19 digs and one service ace.
On the winning side, Dalhousie's Mieke DuMont, Courtney Baker (Bridgewater, N.S.) and Victoria Haworth (Waverly, N.S.) had eight, seven and seven kills respectively. Double digit digs were shared by Baker, DuMont, Czenze, Dunn-Suen and Marisa Mota (Kitchener, Ont.). Czenze was named the Subway Player of the Match for the Tigers.
The CIS No. 8 ranked Dalhousie Tigers will head to Brandon, Man. for the CIS Championship tournament beginning on March 11, 2016.
Subway Players of the Game:
MUN – Krista Hogan
DAL – Abby Czenze
AUS Championship Tournament All-Stars:
Hillary Monette – Acadia
Erica Dowling – Saint Mary's
Kierstin Feb – Memorial
Jill Snow – Memorial
Abby Czenze – Dalhousie
Anna Dunn-Suen – Dalhousie
Tournament MVP – Anna Dunn-Suen – Dalhousie