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Preview: 2013 Subway AUS womenÕs volleyball championship

Preview: 2013 Subway AUS womenÕs volleyball championship
February 14, 2013

(ST. JOHN’S, Nfld.) - The 2013 Subway AUS women’s volleyball championship gets underway this Friday evening at Memorial University’s Field House, with a pair of quarter-finals beginning at 6:00pm.

The tournament features the top six teams in the AUS conference that have been seeded based on their regular season performance. The seeding for this weekend’s event, in order from top seed to sixth seed, is as follows:

1.    Dalhousie Tigers
2.    Saint Mary’s Huskies
3.    Moncton Aigles Bleues
4.    UNB Varsity Reds
5.    StFX X-Women
6.    Memorial Sea-Hawks

The 2012-13 AUS women’s volleyball awards will be handed out Thursday evening at the championship awards banquet, hosted at the Holiday Inn St. John’s.

The championship matches will get underway Friday night with quarter-final action scheduled for 6:00pm and 8:00pm.

Quarter-final #1: UNB vs. StFX
The opening quarter-final match features the UNB Varsity Reds (7-11) versus the StFX X-Women (7-10).

The Varsity Reds swept the season series with the X-Women, with a 3-1 win on February 2nd in Fredericton and a hard fought 3-2 victory in Antigonish in the final game of the regular season for both squads.

The winner will advance to Saturday’s first semifinal against the top-seeded, CIS No. 3-ranked Dalhousie Tigers at 4:30pm.

Quarter-final #2: Moncton vs. Memorial
Friday night’s second quarter-final will feature the third-seeded Moncton Aigles Bleues (8-10) taking on the host Memorial Sea-Hawks (5-11).

The Aigles Bleues hosted the Sea-Hawks for a pair of games in January, sweeping both contests by scores of 3-1 and 3-0.

The winner of this match will move on to face the second-seed and defending AUS champion Saint Mary’s Huskies in Saturday night’s second semifinal match at 6:30pm.

The semifinal winners will face off in the AUS championship final, scheduled for Sunday afternoon at 2:00pm where the 2013 AUS women’s volleyball champion will be crowned.

All five games of the 2013 Subway AUS women’s volleyball championship will be available via webcast at www.AUStv.ca.

Below are brief thumbnail sketches of each tournament team.

Dalhousie Tigers
The Tigers, the No. 3-ranked team in the country, have had a dominant season in the AUS conference this year, leading the league with 32 points and a 16-2 record.

The Tigers have not lost to AUS competition all season, with their only two losses coming in interlock play against teams from the RSEQ conference. Dalhousie is riding a 14-game winning streak coming into the championship and are ranked number one in the conference in hitting percentage, points per set, and service aces per set.

The Tigers are led by a pair of outstanding outside hitters. Maggie Li is following up her AUS rookie of the year season with an excellent sophomore campaign, leading the AUS in service aces with 34, ranking eighth with 148 kills and fourth with 64 total blocks.

The other standout for Dalhousie is senior Louise Facca who has been having a stellar final season. She is third in AUS in kills with 180, second in points per set with 3.8 and second to only her teammate Li, with 33 service aces.
Dalhousie is coached by Rick Scott who is in his fifth year at the helm of the program.

Saint Mary’s Huskies
The defending AUS champion Huskies have had to deal with the graduation of three-time AUS all-star Kerri Smit this season. With back-to-back AUS coach of the year Darren Russell guiding the team they have managed to once again earn a bye with a 10-8 record.

The Huskies lead the AUS in kills, assists, and points.

Ariel Smith, a senior outside hitter, has been a force for the Huskies all year. Her 4.2 kills per set and 4.7 points per set rank her number one in the AUS and second in the CIS in those categories.

Reigning AUS libero of the year, Anastasia Callaghan, once again had another solid season, leading the league with an average of 4.70 digs per set.

Middle Nicole McCulloch will also be a player to watch for the Huskies, racking up 33 solo blocks this year and hitting at .262% on the season.

Moncton Aigles Bleues
The Aigles Bleues finished the regular season with an 8-10 record, coming into the championship tournament on a five-game slide, and will be host Memorial’s opponent in the second quarter-final Friday night.

As a team Moncton ranks second in the AUS conference with 81 solo blocks and third in hitting percentage at .150%. The Aigles Bleues attack will be led by outside hitters Joline Richard and Crissy Roy.

Richard, in her fourth year, has 131 kills this season and has played solid defense with 191 digs.

Roy, in her senior season, leads the team with 2.7 points per set and 24 service aces. The head coach of Moncton is Monette Boudreau-Carroll.

UNB Varsity Reds
UNB wrapped up the season in fourth place with a 7-11 record and have seen much improvement over last season when they finished with a 1-16 regular season record and in last place.

The Varsity Reds are third in the league with 10.26 kills per set and second in service aces per set with 2.56.

Second year right side Vanja Mitrovic leads the way for UNB. Mitrovic posted a team-leading 3.4 points per set and 175 kills.

Middle Rebecca Glancy has been effective at the net, hitting at .289% and compiling 50 total blocks and setter Paige Paulsen ranked second in the conference with 8.60 assists per set.

The Varsity Reds are coached by former Dalhousie Tigers star and two-time AUS player of the year Jilliane Goulet, who is in her first season at the helm of the program after taking over from long-time head coach John Richard.

StFX X-Women
The StFX X-Women enter the championship tournament with a 7-10 record and are seeded fifth.

The X-Women have seen some great team defensive play this year, ranking first in the Atlantic conference with 16.28 digs per set and 89 solo blocks.

Middle Aneta Nejmanova has had an exceptional rookie campaign. The Czech Republic native’s .330 hitting percentage leads the AUS and ranks her fourth nationally. She also leads the league in solo blocks with 45.

The X-Women will be led by fifth-year senior and 2009-10 AUS most valuable player Catherine Thornton. The outside hitter saw the majority of sets for the team, leading the AUS with 788 attacks and finishing the season second with 3.34 kills per set.

Fourth-year libero and Antigonish native Maria Dunphy also had a solid season, averaging 4.16 digs per set, second only to SMU’s Callaghan in the conference.

Memorial Sea-Hawks
The Sea-Hawks are the hosts this year’s Subway AUS women’s volleyball championship and are seeded sixth.
Unfortunately, Memorial had two games in the final weekend of the season due to the weather and finished with 10 points in the AUS standings and a 5-11 record.

Memorial boasts an impressive ability to stop the ball at the net, ranking second in CIS with 2.70 blocks per set thanks to the veteran leadership of middles Chantel Jones and Angela Peddle who have been blocking and hitting efficiently all season.

Jones ranks first in the CIS with 1.37 blocks per set and is hitting at .264%. Peddle boasts an impressive 1.09 blocks per set herself and her .292 hitting percentage ranks second in the AUS and ninth in the CIS.

The presence of a healthy Sam March will also be a huge boost to the Sea-Hawks. March suffered a knee injury shortly after her transition back to left side from setter. Her attack will be dangerous as it earned her 212 kills in 17 games last season, tenth in CIS competition.

The Sea-Hawks are coached by Bill Thistle.

Memorial has previously won three Atlantic championships. The first two, in 1978-79 and 1980-81 were coached by Thistle. The other championship team was in 1999-00, a squad that was coached by current Memorial assistant Karen Murphy.