Axewomen defeat Tigers 3-2 in Game 1 of Subway AUS Women's Volleyball Championship

(HALIFAX, N.S.) The Acadia Axewomen won Game 1 of the final series of the 2023 Subway AUS Women's Volleyball Championship, presented by Bell, over the Dalhousie Tigers 3-2 (25-18, 25-23, 17-25, 19-25, 15-11 ) at Dalplex on Thursday.  

The start of the first set, set the precedent for the rest of the game, with it going back and forth, and was all even at 14 points halfway through the set. This was until the Axewomen went on a 6-2 run, to go up 20-16 mainly due to several errors from the Tigers. Taylor Witty (Dartmouth, N.S.) then found her rhythm and lead the Axewomen to a 25-18 set win. 

In the second set the, the Tigers got out to an early 8-3 lead at the hands of the reigning MVP Lucy Glen-Carter (Toronto, Ont.). The Acadia defence was the story of the second set with third-year libero Rebecca Dorsey (Toronto, Ont.) digging up everything that the Tigers through at them. Tricky serving from Axewomen Eve Collombin (Victoria, B.C.) gave the Tigers a lot of issues towards the end of the set, forcing several errors from the Tigers. The Axewomen went on to win the set 25-23.  

The next two sets were the Glen-Carter show, where the Tigers ended any hope of Acadia shutting out the Tigers on their home court. Glen-Carter tallied several of her game high 25 kills for Tigers, and gave the drum, pan, and garbage can holding Dal fans some hope. Ella Hornby (Calgary, Alta.) and Talia Vydykhan (Hammonds Plains, N.S.) were an excellent supporting cast for the Tigers, also finding the floor several times in the game.  

The fifth and final set was set for the Axewomen and they came out swinging. After going up 8-6 and after switching sides, the Axewomen never looked back and took the final set 15-11 with two kills by Wesley-Ann Bailey (Ottawa, Ont.) to crush the hearts of Tigers hopeful. 

Witty was named the Subway Player of the Game for the Axewomen for her nine kills and 29 diggs.  Glen-Carter was selected as the Subway Player of the Game for the Tigers. 

The teams will face off again at Dalplex Friday at 7 p.m. where Acadia has a chance to win the AUS title and the Tigers look to force Game 3 on Saturday.  

Source: Ethan Hunt for Dalhousie Athletics