Huskies defeat Sea-Hawks in straight sets to improve to 3-0 on the season

ST. JOHN'S, NL - The Saint Mary's Huskies women's volleyball team improved to 3-0 on the season, defeating the Memorial Sea-Hawks in straight sets (25-21, 25-19, 25-13) at the Memorial Fieldhouse on Friday night.

The first point of the game went to the Huskies on an out of bounds play from the Sea-Hawks. The Huskies early serves gave them a commanding 7-2 lead while forcing the Sea-Hawks into an early timeout at 5-1. Blocks from #14 Halle Wirth and #6 Nella Woelfel helped the Sea-Hawks recover after the timeout and with strong performances from the entire court, they were able to tie the game 9-9. Sea-Hawks #16 Lydia Grawer #14 Halle Wirth combined for some impressive kills before forcing the Huskies into a time out with a 13-12 lead. The set continued as a tightly contested match with the Seahawks and Huskies trading the lead for the majority of the rest of the set until the Huskies scored 4 unanswered points to win the set 25-21.

The first point of the second set came as a kill from Huskies #17 Emilia Mikanovich. The Sea-Hawks then battled back with 3 kills from #8 Adria Butt and a sneaky tip from #4 Karen Greek to give the Seahawks a 7-4 lead. The Huskies fought back and tied the game at 9 apiece before #16 Lydia Grawer from the Sea-Hawks produced an aggressive kill to once again gain the lead at 10-9. The Huskies battled back in the middle part of the set to gain a 17-14 lead with the help of two kills from #7 Olivia Bell and #13 Madison Hann, both assisted by #11 Taylor Lougheed, forcing the Sea-Hawks into calling a timeout in an attempt to break the Huskies momentum. Huskies #1 Megan Bruhm was unaffected from the timeout and was able to gain a point immediately off her serve with the Huskies keeping the lead over the Seahawks going into another timeout at 21-17 for the Huskies. After the timeout, Sea-Hawks #4 Karen Greek gained a point from a block, but it was not enough to stop the Huskies from winning the set 25-19.

The Sea-Hawks opened the scoring in the third set and were able to gain a 2-0 lead until a kill from #1 Megan Bruhm put the Huskies on the board. The Huskies were able to find their way back to a 5-4 lead until the Sea-Hawks #4 Karen Greek was able to gain the go ahead point with an intelligent tip. The third set continued with the lead being traded between the two sides consecutively until Sea-Hawks #14 Halle Wirth scored two service aces to give the Seahawks a 9-7 lead. The match then continued to tip back and forth once again until Memorial called a timeout when the Huskies led 15-14. The Huskies then quickly also called a timeout after a poor restart to the set with a service error from #4 Paige Deering followed by a kill from Sea-Hawks #6 Nella Woelfel. The Sea-Hawks started building a commanding lead of 20-17 until the Huskies battled back with a strategically placed kill from Huskies #17 Emilia Mikanovich put them within 1 once again. The Seahawks kept the Huskies from taking the lead until a strong kill from the Huskies #1 Megan Bruhm resulted in a free ball that caused a Seahawks player to fall past the middle line to put the Huskies one point away from taking the game. The game then ended in an unfortunate service error from the Sea-Hawks as the Huskies took a 3-0 victory.

The Huskies were led by Megan Bruhm (Hubley, NS), with a team-high eight kills, and Madison Hann (Conquerall Mills, NS), who posted six kills and added five service aces and five blocks. Taylor Lougheed (Calgary, AB) chipped in 17 assists, while Emilia Mikanovich (Minsk, Belarus) added five kills, two service aces and three digs.

The Sea-Hawks were led by Lydia Grawer (St. Louis, MO) with 11 kills and three digs, and Nella Woelfel (St. John's, NL) with 10 kills and five digs, while setter Karen Greek (Mount Pearl, NL) recorded a match-high 25 assists.

The Huskies and Sea-Hawks will meet again tomorrow for the second game of their series, with first serve scheduled for 12:30 p.m. ADT.