AUS women's volleyball season preview
Tigers’ Li has lofty goals
Talk about a killer first impression.
During her rookie campaign in Atlantic university women’s volleyball, Dalhousie’s Maggie Li led the AUS and CIS in hitting percentage (.395) and finished top 10 in the conference in kills, blocks and points. Li was honoured with selections to the AUS and CIS all-rookie teams and was named conference rookie of the year.
Dal finished second during the regular season with a 14-3 record and reached the conference final before losing to the AUS champion Saint Mary’s Huskies.
With the 2012-13 campaign beginning Friday, the Li-led Tigers are a favourite to capture their first conference banner in eight seasons.
“The team is looking very good this year,” said Li, who’s originally from Beijing and moved with her family to Charlottetown when she was 14. “Our goal is to win the AUS championship for sure and we’ll be working hard to get that.
“We were really close last year. Our goal is to win the championship and I think we have made progress to do that.”
“There are a lot of good teams in the conference,” she added. “We have to work hard and play well every game and not let down against any team. If we can do that, we will be hard to beat.”
The Tigers return much of their starting corps from last season, including all-star outside hitter Louise Facca, skilled setter Hilary Sears and Tara Gowan, who joined Li on the AUS all-rookie team.
Dal graduated captain Kirstie Shepherd, Courtney Giesbrecht and libero Lauren Smith.
“They were important to our team,” Li said, “but Louise and Hilary are good players and great leaders.”
Despite a productive freshman season, Li won’t rest on her laurels. She credits Tigers head coach Rick Scott for helping her maintain her peak condition.
“I’ve been training hard every day,” said Li, who’s studying commerce at Dal.
“Rick is such a good coach, I’ve learned a lot from him and I improved a lot.
“I still need to work hard on my defence and improve on my passing and serving. I’ve been working on fitness a lot and we are practising hard every day getting our game ready. It’s working pretty good so far.”
INTERLOCK SCHEDULE RETURNS
When Atlantic university athletic directors voted to eliminate the women’s volleyball interlock schedule with its Quebec conference counterparts for the 2011-12 season, there was a collective grumble among the AUS coaching fraternity.
Those same coaches lobbied to bring it back and, apparently, the squeaky wheel does get the grease. After a season layoff, interlocking matches return to the AUS schedule beginning this weekend.
“For us it’s good because we get to play against higher level of competition,” Saint Mary’s head coach Darren Russell said. “Better teams make you better.
“I know talking to the Quebec coaches, they were disappointed too. But they are all very excited that it’s back in. The Quebec conference sees the AUS getting that much stronger. It’s going to be exciting.”
After four seasons of interlock play, the motion to eliminate it passed in February, 2011. It was based on a number of reasons, including travel issues and that it was inessential for an eight-team Atlantic conference.
But coaches from both conferences thought otherwise. And the players seem to be ecstatic about the competition.
“I’m very excited for it,” Li said. “We’re looking forward to the competition. It’ll be good for us and the conference.”
All four Quebec conference teams will be in Atlantic Canada this weekend. Four matches are slated for the season opener Friday: Dal hosts the Sherbrooke Vert et Or, the Laval Rouge et Or visit Saint Mary’s, the McGill Martlets take on St. Francis Xavier and the Montreal Carabins face Acadia.
VOLLEYBALL AT A GLANCE
Here’s a look at the other four Nova Scotia teams in AUS women’s volleyball (in order of last season’s finish):
Saint Mary’s Huskies (16-1, first place, won AUS title): The defending conference champs graduated five starters, including three-time league MVP Kerri Smit. Right side Ariel Smith joins the coaching staff.
Head coach Darren Russell has been pleased with his young squad, which lost to Sherbrooke in the final of the McGill Invitational tournament.
“That’s a positive for such a young group,” Russell said. “I’m very excited with the team that’s coming in. They’re young and energetic and probably by next year, we will have a team that will be up near the top.”
Six-foot-one rookie right side Olivia Henderson joins returning settter Jane Pegg, libero Anastasia Callaghan, left sides Shelby Michaels and Briana Donnelly and middle Nicole McCulloch.
Cape Breton Capers (11-6, third place, lost 3-0 to Moncton in AUS quarter-final): Of the 11 players on coach Claude Lapre’s roster, five are in their first year and four are sophomores.
“We have a very young team,” Lapre said. “We graduated five players last year, in which three were AUS all-stars. It’s a young team but we have some talent.”
With the graduation of first-team all-star Vanessa St. Georges, Lapre will turn to right-side Chantelle Zawila to help pick up the slack. Lapre called Zawila an “impact player.”
St. Francis Xavier X-Women (8-9, fourth place, lost 3-1 to Memorial in AUS quarter-final): Former Montreal Carabins assistant coach Danny Da Costa begins his second year as St. F.X. bench boss without all-star Katherine Ryan (studying at Dal) and 2011 AUS rookie of the year Jessica Roberts (transferred to Manitoba) and setter Heather Isenor.
Perennial all-star and former league MVP Catherine Thornton returns for a fifth year and right side Kelsey Wolfenden made the AUS all-rookie team. Third-year setter Melissa Landry injured her ankle during the pre-season. Sophomore Emily Ennett takes over.
Acadia Axewomen (5-12, seventh place, out of playoffs): Another rookie in the AUS coaching ranks, Michelle Wood is approaching the season with a clean slate.
“We’re looking at heading into a whole new direction, setting all new expectations and standards and raising the level of play within this team,” said Wood, a former conference all-star at the University of Toronto.
Wood said dynamic rookies Marissa Chin and Amelia Grail are complementing veterans like Meg Rector and Kristen Bolduc.