SMU drops to Axewomen in 5 sets

(Halifax, NS)—The Saint Mary's Huskies lost 3-2 Wednesday night to the Acadia Axewomen in AUS women`s volleyball action.

Saint Mary`s took the opening set 25-13 and held a 12-7 kill advantage.

Acadia came back, taking the second set 25-19, edging SMU 12-11 in kills.

A third set went SMU`s way 28-26, with each team notching nine kills.

Saint Mary's had more kills (14-10) in the fourth set yet Acadia took it 25-20.

A fifth and deciding set went the wire with Acadia winning the slugfest 20-18.

The Axewomen were led by Ontario natives Sarah Ross (Toronto) with 14 kills (6e 62ta .129), Lauryn Renzelle (Stouffville) had 13 kills (5e 40ta .200) and Fiona McGuinty (Ottawa) added seven kills (2e 17ta .294).  7-8 Acadia sits in second place with 14 points in AUS play.

The fifth straight loss for SMU drops the Huskies to 2-10 (four points) in conference play.

Jamie Rourke (Mission, BC) paced Saint Mary`s with 18 kills (8e 44ta .227), while Erin Smith (Moncton, NB) had 11 kills (3e 32ta .250) in the loss.

Erica Dowling (Lower Sackville, NS) had 10 kills for SMU while teammates Maddie Clarke (Ottawa, ON) added nine and Lindsay Donovan (London, ON) chipped in eight.

Saint Mary's ends the month by hosting top-ranked Dalhousie (9-2, 18 points) Sunday at 2pm at the Homburg Center.  

SMU communications, photo Nick Pearce