Axewomen volleyball: A championship journey that’s serving up a swell of excitement
The massive line-up for tickets to last Tuesday’s AUS women’s volleyball championship final snaked around the Acadia Athletics Complex and buzzed with energy. The enthusiasm and interest in the team has been part of an ever-growing passion for Acadia’s athletic programs. Regardless of whether the fans are die-hards of volleyball or newly inspired to attend their first games, the attention and support the Axewomen are getting is well-deserved.
Photos: Peter Oleskevich
The Acadia Axewomen volleyball story has been one of perseverance – for the individual players, staff, and team as a whole – with much of those hard-earned investments culminating this year. Head Coach Michelle Wood, who recently won her fourth AUS coach of the year award and second consecutive this year, has been with the Axewomen for 12 seasons.
“What makes this moment so special is the movement of support behind us throughout this season and in particular, this playoff run,” said Michelle. “It comes from a long history of dedicated, hardworking, passionate alumni, coaches, admin, and support staff who wanted to realize their goals of winning the AUS championship.”
Coming into the championship final, the Axewomen were in first place, but had lost all four matches against their playoff opponent, Saint Mary’s, in the regular season. The team knew they had to shake that off to triumph over the Huskies in the final.
And that they did. Last Tuesday, those who were lucky enough to attend the sold-out final game were not disappointed. The Axewomen defeated the Huskies 3-0 and came away with their first AUS championship banner, much to the delight of the screaming fans.
“This amazing group of student-athletes was able to accomplish our first AUS volleyball championship title and raise the standard for Acadia women’s volleyball,” said Michelle.
The team is hitting the road on Tuesday to compete in the U SPORTS women’s volleyball championship at McMaster University in Hamilton, ON. The matches are set to start on March 15th, and we can confidently say that they have the passionate backing of everyone in the community.
PLAYER HIGHLIGHTS ON THE ROAD TO THE AUS CHAMPIONSHIP
Alexia Lemay-Evans: First team all-star
Alexia finished third in the conference in points per set with 3.3 and fourth in kills per set with 2.69 – both totals led the Axewomen. She also had 23 aces, six blocks, and 25 block assists.
Charlotte Dean: First team all-star
Charlotte led the conference in assists and assists per set with 642 and 8.34 respectively. Amongst AUS setters she led the conference in digs with 170, good enough for 2.21 digs per set. Offensively, Charlotte also led all setters in kills with 55.
Rebecca Dorsey: Second team all-star
Rebecca finished second in the AUS and U SPORTS with 359 total digs. She was also second in the AUS and third in U SPORTS in digs per set with 4.66.
Erica Fisher: Second team all-star
Erica was previously named to the AUS all-rookie team in 2021-22. This season she led the conference and was fifth in the country in hitting percentage at .325. She was second in the conference in solo blocks with 34, while also finishing the year with 26 block assists. Her totals put her 11th in the conference in points at 195.
Allison Van Zeumeren: All-rookie team
Allison is a very welcomed new addition to the Axewomen. She finished her rookie campaign with 1.03 kills per set, five aces, four block assists and 1.2 points per set.
Jenna Lake: AUS championship MVP
Jenna stepped up for Acadia over the six championship matches, being named the AUS championship MVP. She finished the playoffs with a league leading 4.0 points per set and league leading 85 kills.
Media Contact
Robyn McBain
Director, Marketing and Communicationsmedia.relations@acadiau.ca 902-585-1705