Tigers win first of 2019

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The Axewomen volleyball team fell short in defeating the first place and No. 3 nationally ranked Dalhousie Tigers in a 3-0 match loss. 

While final statistics were fairly similar, the second set loss seemed to take the wind out of the Axewomen's sails. 

Pushing out to a 12-8 lead, the Axewomen allowed the Tigers to tie the first set at 12 on an Acadia attack error. Tied at 15 on a Tiger kill by Victoria Haworth (Waverley, N.S.), Dalhousie catapulted to a 19-15 lead off of three Acadia attack errors followed by a Mieke DuMont (Kamloops, B.C.) kill. 

The Axewomen fought back to tie the first set at 22 on a Taylor Collombin (Victoria, B.X.) kill and then teammates Lauryn Renzella (Stouffville, Ont.) and Hannah Helm (Halifax, N.S.) added two more kills to give Acadia a 24-22 lead. 

Two kills by Tiger Julie Moore (Halifax, N.S.) followed by two service aces by Libby Falkenham ended the opening set at 26-24 Dalhousie. 

The Axewomen opened the second game with an early 8-5 lead but a kill by Dalhousie's Haworth tied the set at nine. 

Tied at 11, the Tigers would push to a 15-11 lead off of two kills each by Courtney Baker (Bridgewater, N.S.) and DuMont. Dalhousie would maintain the lead and eventual 25-16 second set win. 

The Axewomen would not lead in the third and final set. Tied at 15, Dalhousie's DuMont and Baker teamed up again with DuMont landing three kills and Baker with a service ace to give the Tigers a 19-15 lead.   

Acadia kills by Lucy Glen-Carter (Toronto, Ont.) and Collumbin in the closing of the set narrowed Dalhousie win to 24-20 in the third. 

"It's always a chess game when you play a strong opponent. When an opponent starts to raise the bar, you have too match them if not overcome them. Unfortunately, we caught Dalhousie at the beginning but as soon as Dalhousie got out of the rut, we didn't meet that challenge," noted head coach Michelle Wood following the match. 

"A lot of our errors are great process errors, but we are missing by a small margin, but if you miss by a small margin and I miss by a small margin and my teammate misses by a small margin, they all begin to add up. Great process but the ball only knows one thing, it's either in or it's out," concluded Wood. 

Glen-Carter and Renzella led the Axewomen with nine kills each. Renzella, who posted a 0.368 hitting percentage, was named Acadia's Player of the Game. Micaela Sabean (Bridgewater, N.S.) posted a team-high 11 digs. 

Courtney Baker, who was named the Subway Player of the Game, had nine kills and added one service ace, five digs and 13 assists for the Tigers. Mieke DuMont posted a game-high 13 kills and an impressive 0.500 hitting percentage. 

Baker and DuMont combined for 22 of the Tigers' 39 kills. Acadia recorded 30 kills in the loss. 

Acadia drops to 8-3 and Dalhousie remains undefeated at 10-0. 

The Axewomen will have a day of rest before traveling to Halifax to take on the Saint Mary's Huskies on Saturday at 2:00 pm, while the Tigers host UNB on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.