X-Women claim 4th place at UNB tourney

The X-Women volleyball team played in their second exhibition tournament of the pre-season in Fredericton this past weekend. StFX placed fourth overall with a 1-4 record over three days of play at the UNB Invitational.

On Friday the X-Women played matches against Moncton and UNB and came out on the losing end of 3-1 scores in both matches. In their first game against Moncton, the Aigles Bleues won the first two sets by scores of 25-22 and 27-25, then the X-Women came back to win the third set 25-16. Moncton wrapped up the match with a close 25-23 win in the fourth set.

Freshman middle blocker Jessica Roberts led the X-Women with 8 kills and 3 aces in the match while setter Heather Isenor had 34 assists. Freshman Melissa Landry had 12 digs, 2 kills and 3 aces.

In their second match of the night against the host UNB Varsity Reds, the X-Women again played close sets, dropping the 3-1 match by scores of 25-16, 22-25, 25-21 and 25-23. Freshman hitter Michalea Vorlova played a strong match for StFX recording 16 kills and 18 digs. Jessica Nichols scored 15 kills and Isenor contributed 4 aces and 14 digs.

On day two of the tournament, the X-Women were again involved in close matches as they fell 3-1 to Cape Breton (23-25, 25-19, 25-14, 25-17) and 3-2 to Acadia (17-25, 25-21, 29-27, 22-25, 15-12).

In the match against the Capers, StFX was led by Roberts who had 12 kills and 7 blocks. Landry recorded 8 digs, 2 kills and 1 ace while libero Megan Pothier had 19 digs. Mary Anne MacDonald chipped in with 3 kills, 2 digs and 1 ace.

In their five set match against Acadia, Layla Calvi recorded 10 kills, 4 blocks and 1 ace for the X-Women, Roberts had 10 kills, 4 blocks and 2 aces and Vorlova played a strong game with 19 kills and 20 digs. Lauren Ellis was a spark for the team with 15 digs.

On Sunday the X-Women again faced the Moncton Aigles Bleues in the fourth place match and came out on top of a 3-1 match for their first win of the weekend. StFX dropped the first set 21-25, then came back to win the next three with set scores of 25-22, 25-21 and 25-16. 

Vorlova recorded 20 kills, 1 ace, 18 digs and 1 block in the match while Nichols contributed 12 kills, 5 aces and 15 digs. Isenor had 52 assists, 1 ace and 10 digs for StFX and Maria Dunphy recorded 23 digs. Ellis helped the StFX cause with 22 digs, 2 kills, 1 ace and 1 block.

The host UNB squad took home tournament honors, followed by Cape Breton in second place and Acadia in third. X-Women setter Heather Isenor was named to the tournament all-star team, along with Nicole Davidson (Acadia), Jolaine Gallant (Moncton), Jill Blanchard (UNB), Kristen Ryan and Hilary Cummings, both of Cape Breton. Erica Hay of the Varsity Reds was named the tournament MVP.

The X-Women were without starters Catherine Thornton and Katherine Ryan in the tournament due to minor injuries.

The tournament wraps up exhibition play for the X-Women who close out the pre-season with a 4-5 record. They begin AUS regular season competition this weekend with two matches at home at the StFX Oland Centre. Saturday afternoon the X-Women will host Moncton at 3:00, followed by a Sunday afternoon match at 1:00 pm against UNB.