Axewomen defeat Huskies in four sets to take game one of championship final

WOLFVILLE, NS - The Acadia Axewomen defeated the Saint Mary's Huskies in four sets (25-14, 25-18, 14-25, 25-21) on Friday night in Wolfville, NS, taking game one of the best-of-three Atlantic University Sport women's volleyball championship final.

The Axewomen won 25-14 and 25-18 to open the match before the Huskies bounced back with a statement third set of their own, winning 25-14.

HUSKIES HIGHLIGHTS ��

Megan Bruhm finishes off the third set with a kill and the Huskies take it 25-14! Acadia leads two sets to one. pic.twitter.com/qbxjURKxwX

— Saint Mary's Huskies (@SMUHuskies) March 2, 2024

In a back-and-forth fourth set with it being tied until 10-10, Acadia pulled away to take the deciding set 25-21.

Acadia's player of the game, Eve Collombin (Victoria, BC) finished the match with nine points (six kills and three aces) offensively, while her largest impact was a team-leading 16 digs.

Leading the Axewomen offence was Jenna Lake (Conception Bay South, NL) with 13 kills, three aces and two block assists. Not far off was middle Erica Fisher (Middle Stewiacke, NS) with eight kills, three aces and two block assists for 12 points.

Saint Mary's was led by Emilia Mikanovich (Minsk, BEL) with 14 kills, an ace and solo block for 16 points in the match. Olivia Bell (LaHave Islands, NS) also had an impressive match for the Huskies, finishing with 10 kills, two solo blocks and a block assist.

The offence was run through Huskies' player of the game Taylor Lougheed (Calgary, AB), who finished with 32 assists. For Acadia, setter Charlotte Dean had 34 assists.

With the win, the Axewomen take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three AUS Championship series. The series will now shift to Halifax, with game two at the Homburg Centre, Sunday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m. GET TICKETS

Photos by Peter Oleskevich / Acadia Athletics