PREVIEW: 2025 Bell AUS Women's Volleyball Championship

(HALIFAX, N.S.) If one thing is certain, it is that there will be a new AUS women's volleyball champion in 2025.

The AUS post-season begins Friday night with the Dalhousie Tigers, Saint Mary's Huskies, UNB REDS and Memorial Sea-Hawks all looking to get their hands on the championship banner. The defending champion Acadia Axewomen fell short of the playoffs by finishing fifth in the league with a 9-11 record.

The playoffs will consist of two semifinal best-of-three series with the winners moving on to a best-of-three championship final series.

Semifinal Series #1: Dalhousie Tigers (No. 1) vs Memorial Sea-Hawks (No. 4)

The Tigers saw their 10-year run as league champs end last season, so they will be hungry to hoist the AUS banner once again. Standing in their way, however, are the Memorial Sea-Hawks.

Game 1 goes tonight at Dalhousie. First serve is set for 7 p.m.

Memorial's appearance in the post-season comes as a bit of a surprise, as the Sea-Hawks were ranked dead last in the pre-season coaches poll after going winless in each of their past two seasons. Using that as fuel, the Sea-Hawks exploded out of the gates with a 4-2 record – including weekend splits with the defending champs from Acadia and longtime AUS volleyball powerhouse Dalhousie.

They faltered down the stretch a touch, as they dropped their final four games of the season – the last two to the Tigers – to end the campaign with a 10-10 record (their most wins since recording 14 back in the 2016-17 season).

The Sea-Hawks are led by AUS First-Team All-Stars Lydia Grawer, who led the league in points (334), kills (270) and service aces (55); and Courtney Hodder, who finished third in points (306) and kills (244).

Dalhousie was the class of the league all season long, never losing two games in a row. First-year head coach, and the 2025 AUS Women's Volleyball Coach of the Year, Patrick Murray guided his team to a 16-4 record.

Whether it's AUS First-Team All-Star Ella Hornby, Second-Team All-Stars Grace Calnan and Kasandra Trenke, or the just-as-talented Talia Vydykhan and Annik Boldon, the Tigers are deep and do a marvelous job of utilizing their multiple weapons to get the job done.

Keep your eyes on setters Karen Greek (AUS Second-Team All-Star) from Memorial and Quinn McAleer (AUS All-Rookie Team) from Dalhousie, as both are magicians with the ball and run very efficient attacks.

Memorial's last AUS crown came at the turn of the century in the 1999-2000 season. Dalhousie's as recently as the 2022-23 season.

Games 2 and 3, if needed, will also be hosted by Dalhousie on Saturday evening at 7 p.m. and Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m.

All AUS playoff games can also be watched on AUStv.ca.

Semifinal Series #2: Saint Mary's Huskies (No. 2) vs. UNB REDS (No. 3)

Similar to last season, the Saint Mary's University Huskies enter the post-season as the No. 2 seed after posting an identical 14-6 record. That is where they would like the similarities to end, as they ended up falling to Acadia in Game 3 of a thrilling championship final series.

This time around, they would like to take the next step and earn their first AUS title since the 2011-12 season. Game 1 of their best-of-three semifinal series goes Saturday night at Saint Mary's in a 7 p.m. start.

UNB comes into the series as the No. 3 seed after finishing the regular season with a 10-10 record. Momentum may be on their side as they capped the season with a four-game winning streak – including a win over Saint Mary's and a sweep of Memorial to move up to the No. 3 seed.

Leading the way for the REDS are veterans Lydia Green and Heather Benko. Green earned a First-Team All-Star nod after finishing the season with 244 points – good enough for sixth in the conference, while Benko picked up a Second-Team All-Star selection following a season in which she became the AUS' all-time leader in service aces.

Saint Mary's counters with the 2025 AUS Most Valuable Player and First-Team All-Star, Emilia Mikanovich. The third-year left side finished first in the AUS in kills per set (3.39), second in kills (268) and points (307.5), and fourth in digs (270).

The Huskies also boast the league's Rookie of the Year in setter Grace Blaskovits, who finished second in the league in assists (641), while adding an impressive 38 service aces.

Defensively, both teams dress some of the best middles in the league in Alena Piatukhova (SMU) and Danielle Krzywonos (UNB). Piatukhova, a First-Team All-Star, led the league in blocks with 72 while Krzywonos finished right behind her with 70.

Saint Mary's will also host Game 2 on Saturday night at 7 p.m., and Game 3, if needed, on Monday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m.

All AUS playoff games can also be watched on AUStv.ca.