Huskies punch ticket to AUS final with four set win over Sea-Hawks

ST. JOHN'S, NL - The Saint Mary's Huskies will compete in the AUS women's volleyball finals for the third straight year, as they defeated the Memorial Sea-Hawks in four sets (25-23, 22-25, 25-11, 25-17) to sweep the AUS semifinal series on Saturday night at the Memorial Fieldhouse.

Once again, it was tightly contested first set, with a kill from Emilia Mikanovich tying the set at 9-9. The Sea-Hawks took control off a service run from Lydia Grawer, opening up a 14-10 lead. After a Huskies timeout, they sharpened up on the blocks, with Jordin Parsons recording two quick assisted blocks and a kill, giving SMU a 17-16 advantage. The back-and-forth continued, with neither team leading by more than two points for the remainder of the set. With the set tied at 22-22, Esther Wildeboer scored a kill, follow by a Mikanovich ace, and another Wildeboer kill to finish off the first set, 25-23 for the Huskies.

The Huskies momentum seemed to continue into the second set, as a trio of early kills from Mikanovich helped then get out to an early 7-3 lead. An Alena Piatukhova service ace extended the SMU lead to 10-4, but Memorial came back, scoring four straight points off of Courtney Hodder's service to cut the deficit to 10-8. Back-to-back kills from Mikanovich extended the Huskies lead to 15-11, but the Sea-Hawks responded once again, with Nella Woelfel serving up a pair of aces, and Lydia Grawer scoring a kill to give the hosts a 16-15 advantage. Another Memorial run, highlighted by back-to-back kills from Grawer extended their lead to 21-17, and Grawer continued her outstanding play, scoring two more kills to close out the set with a 25-22 win to even up the match at one set a piece.

That was a wake-up call for the Huskies, as they controlled the third set from start to finish. A Piatukhova block, followed by a pair of Mikanovich kills opened up an early 4-0 lead. A six-point service run from Esther Wildeboer extended that lead to 16-6. With the Huskies up 23-11, Wildeboer and Mikanovich continued their outstanding play, each spiking a kill to give Saint Mary's a convincing 25-11 third set win.

Memorial seemed to have some answers early in the fourth set, with a kill from AUS Rookie of the Year Naomie McWhinney giving them a 5-4 advantage. But Saint Mary's kept their foot on the gas, with kills from Mikanovich and Wildeboer putting them ahead 13-6. Jordin Parsons continued her dominant play at the net with a pair of late blocks, and Esther Wildeboer delivered her 18th kill of the match to win the fourth set 25-17, and punch the Huskies ticket to the AUS Championship final.

Huskies first year middle Jordin Parsons was named Boston Pizza Player of the Game, dominating at the net with 5.0 total blocks, and adding four kills and four digs. Emilia Mikanovich led all scorers with 25.0 points (23 kills, one assist, 1.0 blocks, four assists and 11 digs), Esther Wildeboer added 21.0 points (18 kills, 2.0 blocks, one ace, one assist, five digs) and setter Taylor Lougheed dished out 34 assists, and added 2.5 blocks, one kill, and nine digs.

The Sea-Hawks were led by 14.0 points from Lydia Grawer (12 kills, one assist, 1.0 blocks and 11 digs) while Taylar Johnston added 12.5 points (11 kills, 1.5 blocks, two digs).

With the win, the Huskies advance to the AUS finals for the third straight season, and will look to win back-to-back championships for the first time since 2005-06, 2006-07. They'll face the #1 seed UNB REDS, with schedule information TBD.

Recap by Allan April / Saint Mary's Huskies Athletics
Photos by @ucephoto / Memorial Sea-Hawks Athletics