HALIFAX, NS – Saint Mary’s left side Olivia Bell recorded the 1000th kill of her regular season career, helping lead the Huskies to a four-set win (25-22, 25-10, 22-25, 27-25) over the Memorial Sea-Hawks in Atlantic University Sport women’s volleyball action on Saturday afternoon at the Homburg Centre in Halifax.
“I feel good and confident after today’s win. I think our team is putting the pieces together that we need to get to the Championship final, and this weekend was an awesome opportunity for some of our starters to get a bit of rest and some of our bench to get an opportunity to play, so it was a great weekend,” said Bell post-game.
It was senior day for the Huskies volleyball team, as they honoured graduating seniors Paige Deering (Calgary, AB), Olivia Kokkinen (Uxbridge, ON), Megan Bruhm (Hubley, NS) and Olivia Bell (LaHave Islands, NS) with a pre-game ceremony.
“It’s fun to enjoy those moments with teammates that you’ve shared memories outside of the sport too,” said Bell on sharing senior day with her three teammates. “Those girls have become my best friends, and I’ve been here the longest so I’ve really watched them grow into the girls they are. I remember when they came, they were quiet and shy, and as you can see tonight they’ve really blossomed into confident women on-and-off the court.”
Sea-Hawks middle Taylar Johnston (Nokomis, SK) and left side Courtney Hodder (Main Point, NL) ended these celebrations with a double block on Bruhm. Kokkinen replied with assists on the left side to Bell, Emilia Mikanovich (Minsk, Belarus), and middle Alena Piatukhova (Minsk, Belarus). The Sea-Hawks held an early 5-3 lead when Johnston teamed up with outside Lydia Grawer (St. Louis, MO) to deny Bell, before Hodder skipped an ace off the net. On serve, Johnston’s hard floater kept the Huskies out of transition, but Bruhm found a crosscourt seam to the corner to salvage an out-of-system and start a Huskies run. The Huskies retook the lead when Mikanovich went into the scorers table to field an errant dig directly to Bruhm, who sent the Sea-Hawks scrambling. Scrappy plays went the way of the Huskies, and the Sea-Hawks took timeout behind 14-10. Bell ended long rallies with spikes ricocheting off hardcourt-level dig attempts. Grawer put Johnston on serve with a right-side blast, who then handcuffed consecutive Huskies with aces. This pressure manifested into further errors, and another Johnston ace put the Sea-Hawks in front 19-18, and the Huskies into the timeout huddle. Bell handled the Johnston serve cleanly before finishing the point with a kill to stabilize the Huskies. A back-and-forth finish appeared to go in the Sea-Hawks favor, as Grawer ablated the right sideline with a laser from the backcourt. Cathartic in the clutch, Bell’s 1000th career kill came off the blocks, and the Huskies took timeout to celebrate. This put Deering on serve, who forced a free ball that was dunked by Bruhm, before acing to ice the set 25-22.
The Huskies were in attack mode to start the second, racing ahead 8-3 without a Sea-Hawks kill. Kokkinen provided a sneaky spike to the delight of the Huskies bench, part of a seven point onslaught behind Mikanovich’s inscrutable serves. Greek set Grawer for their first kill of the set, but Bell and Deering retook control, combining for a series of kills and blocks. Spectators were treated to a preview of the future Huskies hitters, with Sydney Fader (Dartmouth, NS) and Brea De Souza (Oakville, ON) subbing in to close out the set 25-10.
Not wanting to end their season as the straight-set Sea-Hawks, Memorial started the third set with two aces from middle Halle Wirth (Winnipeg, MB) and a block-beater from Johnston against the Huskies reserves. Wirth’s serve floated out the back to offer the Huskies a reprieve, who took advantage with heads-up play from Anna Liniewski (Burnaby, BC) at the net. Linewski then raced across the court to put away a back set from Kokkinen, and De Souza’s slicing topspin serve sent deflected aces into opposite bleachers. Nine consecutive points were aces or service errors, with Johnston providing a triplet to put the Sea-Hawks up 13-7. She was finally fielded by Fader, and libero Morgan Hoskins (Bishops Falls, NL) sent it ahead to Syree Tucker (Kitchener, ON) for a left side kill. A couple of Fader kills put Deering on serve, and in a flash, the Sea-Hawks were taking timeout with a reduced 15-12 lead. Huskies libero Lianne Rogers (Fletcher’s Lake, ON) was effective at returning several tricky Sea-Hawk serves as part of a rally towards a 21-21 tie. However, Grawer’s right side wrath seemed unblockable, and she put herself on serve with a ferocious kill that she backed up with an ace for a 23-21 lead. Sea-Hawks setter Karen Greek (Mount Pearl, NL) and Wirth blocked Fader to grant three set points, and Batt tipped it over the blocks for a 25-22 set victory.
The Huskies returned a selection of starters to begin the fourth set, but the Sea-Hawks were unfazed. Hodder bested Bruhm at the net twice, and Grawer crosscourt kills combined with acrobatics from libero Sarah Trowbridge (Sunnyside, NL), generating a 9-3 edge. Hoping to avoid disaster, the Huskies subbed in setter Taylor Lougheed (Calgary, AB) and middle Madison Hann (Conquerall Mills, NS), but the Greek-Grawer combination kept the Huskies on the back foot. Greek took matters into her own hands with consecutive fake set kills, and the Huskies trailed 12-5. Trowbridge and Hodder raced to the basketball baseline to field a deflected serve from Hann, and despite ultimately losing the point, it was clear the Sea-Hawks were not interested in a winless season. Lougheed and Piatukhova erased an earlier error with a connection that brought the Huskies back within 17-12, and Bell was brought back to catalyze a comeback. However, the Huskies remained stuck 23-17, before Lougheed entered with an ace. Bruhm followed up with a pair of shared blocks and a blistering kill, and the Sea-Hawks called timeout. Lougheed nearly dug a court-level tip but the Huskies faced three set points. However, the Bruhm Piatukhova defense set up an unforgettable rally that was put away by Bell off the blocks for a 24-24 tie. Hodder converted one of two attempts, keeping the score 25-25. Ruthless, Bell rang up her 13th kill, and the Huskies converted their second match point for the 27-25 set victory.
Huskies seniors shined in their final regular season games. Player-of-the-Game Olivia Bell had 13 kills and nine digs despite sitting out over a quarter of the game. Olivia Kokkinen had 32 assists and five digs, Megan Bruhm had seven kills, seven digs, and two blocks, while Paige Deering had three kills, three blocks, and a set-winning ace.
The Sea-Hawks were led by Taylar Johnston’s six aces, six kills, and three blocks. Lydia Grawer added 10 kills and 10 digs. Karen Greek had 30 assists, while Sarah Trowbridge dug 23 digs.
The Huskies finish the season with a 14-6 record, and will host an AUS playoff semifinal, with opponent and date still to be determined. Stay tuned to SMUHuskies.ca for updates and tickets.
“Mindset heading into playoffs is one point at a time, can’t look too far in the future or the past, I feel like today was an example of us taking our eye off the ball at times and looking ahead instead of just focusing on that next point,” said Bell post-game. “But it doesn’t matter who is on the other side of the court, we’re Huskies, we’re DAWGS and we’re going to do what it takes to get it done!”
The Sea-Hawks finish the season with an 0-20 record, but despite that record, showed promise down the stretch winning at least one set in each of their last four matches, and will return a lot of young talent next season.
Recap by Dr. Casper Macaulay / Saint Mary’s Huskies Athletics
Photos by Eduardo Ibarra / Saint Mary’s Huskies Athletics
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