Huskies comeback strong to top UdeM 3-2

(Halifax, NS)--The Saint Mary's Huskies used five sets Friday night in defeating the Moncton Aigles Bleus 3-2 (25-21, 26-24, 23-25, 15-25, 12-15) in AUS volleyball action from the Homburg Centre.

The Huskies were tested early Friday with Moncton jumping out to an 8-1 lead.

Saint Mary's battled back to with-in one point several times midway thru the set before Moncton went on a 11-8 run to take the first set 25-21.

Attack errors and kills filled the second set stat sheet, with both teams trading points and neither could grab more than a three-point lead in the set.

Moncton won the set on a service error and kill 26-24.

SMU bounced backed and took the third set 25-23 with 14 kills.

A 25-15 fourth set saw Saint Mary's cruise to a 16-3 lead and use a 14-6 kill advantage for the win.

The fifth set saw a quick 2-2 start from both teams before the Huskies used a three-point run, building a 5-2 lead which Moncton chipped away at and evened the set at 7-7, 9-9 and 11-11.

SMU's final fourth points were sandwiched between a Moncton point and the Huskies won 15-12.

Moncton had 54 kills and both teams had three players record double-digit kills.

Rachelle Lemoine (St-Boniface, Man.) paced the Aigles Bleus with 15 kills while Emilie Landry (McLeod Hill, NB) added 14 and Pascale Doiron (Caraquet, NB) 11.

Moncton drops to 3-3 and host 0-6 UNB Saturday November 5th at 4 p.m.

Saint Mary's  had 61 kills with Kristina Adler (Brampton, Ont.) pacing all hitters with 18 kills while Erin Smith (Moncton, NB) had 17 and Jaime Rourke (Mission, BC) 11.

Saint Mary's improves to 5-1 and visits the U Sports No. 9 ranked Dalhousie Tigers (5-0) Sunday November 6th at 2:30 p.m.

The Huskies end the first half of their 2016-17 AUS volleyball season with a visit to Memorial University November 11-13.

Saint Mary's returns home in 2017 versus Dalhousie January 11th at 7 p.m.

Dominic Nolasco, SMU Communications

Photo Nick Pearce