Written by Thomas Scott
The Dalhousie University Tigers women’s volleyball team is hungry for more, coming off a tenth-straight AUS Championship and a national bronze medal.
Michelle Aucoin, the 2009 AUS Coach of the Year and a two-time AUS champion with the Tigers as an athlete, is the Tigers new interim head coach this season.
“I feel very grateful to have the opportunity to step into such a successful program and I think I certainly have a player’s and coach’s perspective to what success looks like on and off the court and in the classroom and community,” says Aucoin.
After having just two players past their third year of eligibility last season, the Tigers have much more experience this season.
“I think our depth is one of our strengths,” says Aucoin. “We have a lot of players with a lot of experience. We’ll certainly be relying on that depth to help us as we head into a very competitive season.”
Aucoin will have the reigning AUS MVP, Lucy Glen-Carter (Toronto, ON), who is in her fifth and final season.
“I think she is an example for everyone on the team, both on and off the court,” says Aucoin.
A U SPORTS First Team All-Canadian last season, Glen-Carter will be looking for her second AUS Championship.
“I think she still has that fire in her belly,” says Aucoin.
Welcoming a new head coach, the Tigers have spoken highly of Aucoin.
“Michelle has been great. She’s integrated herself into the program seamlessly. She shows a lot of respect for our players but also demands a lot of respect, which is great,” says Glen-Carter, who is taking her masters of physiotherapy. “I think she’s fit into our program really well and she embraces our core values and shares them.”
Second-year outside Paris Stewart (Halifax, NS) agrees with Glen-Carter and says the overall competitiveness of Aucoin and the team will help the team flourish.
“She’s super competitive and she’s always challenging us in practice, which is amazing,” says the 2022-23 All-Rookie Team cinema and media studies major. “She cares about us a lot as people and is constantly making sure that we’re okay mentally and physically.”
Despite taking home a national bronze medal last season and winning the program a national medal for the first time since 1984, the Tigers are not done yet.
“I genuinely think that we have a shot at going farther than we did last year, which is really exciting,” says Glen-Carter.
Along with Glen-Carter and others, Charlotte Arsenault (Ottawa, ON) is part of the team’s leadership group. The leadership the entire team can bring makes Arsenault feel very positive about the group.
“We have a lot of people that are bringing a lot of leadership skills,” says the civil engineering major. “We have a lot of young girls who are really starting to feel comfortable. It’s really awesome to see how comfortable everybody is with each other and it’s very much a group effort.”
Having won ten straight AUS titles, the Tigers know teams will be ready to play the champions.
“We always know we have a huge target on our back when any team gets a chance to play against us,” says Arsenault, who acknowledged each year is different. “We know that we’re going to get everyone’s best punch. We know we always have to be on top of our game.”
The Tigers open the season on Saturday at 2pm against the Moncton Aigles Bleues in Moncton.