Tigers top Huskies 3-0

(HALIFAX, N.S.)—The visiting Dalhousie Tigers defeated the host Saint Mary's Huskies 3-0 (25-15, 25-22, 25-17) on Wednesday evening in Atlantic University Sport women's volleyball action from the Homburg Centre.

The U Sports No. 3-ranked Tigers padded their lead in first-place over second-place Acadia by eight points (30-22) as Dalhousie improves to 15-0 on the year.

Mieke DuMont (Kamloops, BC) paced all hitters with 12 kills on the night, followed by teammate Julie Moore (Halifax, NS) with 10. Courtney Baker (Bridgewater, NS) had 25 assists and Libby Falkenham (Halifax, NS) had 11 for the Tigers.

DAL opened the first set with early leads of 5-1, 10-4 and halfway thru the set led 15-7. A 7-5 SMU run had the Huskies trailing 20-14. Dal closed out the set on a 5-1 run, taking the set 25-15.

The Huskies started the second set with a spark, opening the set on a four-point run. The mid-way point of the set saw scores of 10-10, 15-15 and 20-20. A 5-2 Dal run saw the Tigers win the second set 25-22.

After an early 2-2 tie in the third set, DAL jumped out to leads of 7-3, 11-4 and 19-10. A 5-0 Huskies run saw SMU trim Dal's led to four, 19-15. The Tigers closed out the third set on a 6-2 run, 25-17.

Lindsay Donovan (London, ON) had eight kills to pace SMU while Bethany Smith (Moncton, NB) added seven in the loss. Emilla Conlon (Dartmouth, NS) had 23 assists for the Huskies.

Saint Mary's falls to 5-8 on the year and trail UNB by two points (12-10) in conference play.

Both teams face Moncton this weekend, with SMU hosting Moncton January 25 at 7 p.m. while Dalhousie travels to Moncton January 27 at 2 p.m.

Dominic Nolasco

Photo Nick Pearce