This weekend, (Feb 26-28), we are fortunate enough to be hosting another AUS championship. This Subway sponsored spike-fest will host six Varsity Women’s Volleyball teams from around the Atlantic provinces. UNB, Moncton, Saint Mary’s, Memorial, Dalhousie, and of course, Acadia. This is also very convenient because there are only six teams in the league, who needs a regular season anyways? Acadia is entering the weekend as the third seed team. An unfortunate standing due to the basis of the playoff structure. Six plays third, fourth plays fifth, winners move on to challenge the top two seeds who got a bye for the first round. Although this does give opportunity to for the team to get a warm up game in against last place, UNB before they start gunning for the finals.
The weekend kicks off on Friday with the first quarter-final taking place at 3pm. This is showdown between Moncton and St. Mary’s. Don’t skip class for it. The next game, and Acadia’s first, begins that evening at 7pm. A perfect opportunity to throw some Acadia gear on, head down to the gym, and realize you have absolutely no idea how volleyball works. I’ve brainstormed some questions in which first-time volleyball watchers tend to ask themselves. Why is one girl wearing another colour? Why do they feel the need to cheer after every play? Did their father let them out of the house wearing those shorts? I do not have the answers yet, but I’m hoping this weekend will lead myself and the rest of you curious cats to some knowledge. Acadia seems to be the dominant force in this match up. Winning two of the three previous games they’ve played.
Once Acadia brushes through the quarter-final round we’ll go jumping into the semis versus the well-rested Memorial Sea-Hawks. The Sea-Hawks, which I may mention is not an actual bird, just a poorly thought out nickname for an Osprey, are the number two seed coming out of this season. They have ten wins and seven losses throughout the school year. We have contacts in the airline industry who have ensured us that the Seahawks will all be individually seated next to crying children, while the pilots’ strike up as much turbulence as possible. I doubt this will have much influence on the result but hey, it’s not cheating if you win. This will be a tough match as Memorial have star-player Jill Snow slamming down volleyballs everywhere she goes. She boasts a whopping 209 kills, this season alone. Talk about a master key. She has the highest kills per set in the league and will need some tough defense to slow her down. This should be no problem, as Acadia has split wins with the Sea-Hawks thus far, and with an extra bit of home court advantage, it should happen again.
If all goes well, and the Memorial Pigeons are beaten we will most-likely take on Dalhousie in the final. This is all so possible for this team, and it would be amazing for this Acadia team to make a run at the title this year. Another quarter-final loss would just puck for everyone. Suck*. So get out this weekend to show support, have your questions answered, and if nothing else, a good time.
