MAIN PHOTO: Leah Weatherhead smiles proudly holding the AUS women’s volleyball championship trophy. (Submitted photo)
WOLFVILLE: A Fall River volleyball player is an Atlantic University Sport women’s volleyball champion.
Lockview High and Fall River Fury alum Leah Weatherhead and her Acadia Axewomen volleyball team captured their first-ever AUS championship defeating SMU in three sets on Tuesday night in Wolfville.
It is Weatherhead’s rookie season with the Axewomen.
Acadia won the sets 25-18, 27-25, and 20-18 at the Stu Aberdeen Court in Wolfville, NS.
The sold-out home crowd of the Axewomen seemed to give them a boost in the opening moments, as they opened up an early 10-3 lead.
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League MVP Olivia Bell started to heat up as the set went on, recording three kills to lead Saint Mary’s.
But the early Acadia lead proved too large to overcome, as the Axewomen took the first set 25-18, with outsider hitter Jenna Lake recording six kills to lead the home team.
After Acadia opened up a 16-12 lead, the Huskies were able to fight back to take a 20-17 lead.
The two teams traded points for the remainder of the set with the Axewomen pulling out a 27-25 win to take a commanding two set to none lead.
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In the third, the Huskies led early, but the Axewomen fought back with a couple kills courtesy of Lake, but a service ace from Alena Piatukhova helped restore the Huskies lead at 15-14.
Another ace from Bell put the Huskies up 18-17, but a huge block from Alexia Lemay-Evans tied it up again at 18, and back-to-back Lake kills gave Acadia the lead 20-18.
A Piatukhova kill cut the lead to 20-19, but Acadia won four of the next five points to force match point. A Lake kill gave the Axewomen the 25-22 set win, and clinched the first AUS championship in program history.
Lianne Rogers of Fletchers Lake is a member of the Huskies.
Both the Huskies and the Axewomen will be competing at the U SPORTS women’s volleyball championship, which will be played March 15-17 at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont.
- with recap info from the story by Acadia Athletics.
