The Memorial Sea-Hawks women's volleyball team will host the Acadia Axewomen this weekend for a three game series beginning Friday evening at The Field House.
The weekend series will be the Sea-Hawks first regular season action of the season. Memorial hosted the Royal Military College of Canada for three preseason games in October, dropping all three of those matches.
Memorial enters this season with a number of new additions, as well as some key returning athletes. Leading the way for the Hawks will be 2nd year outside hitter Emma Hackett (Clarenville, NL). Hackett was named to the AUS All-Rookie Team last season and she will look to build on her strong rookie campaign.
Hailey Oke (Massey Drive, NL) and Catherine Smith (Mount Pearl, NL) enter their second season with the team and are expected to be key pieces in the middle of the floor for the Hawks this season.
Head Coach John Slauenwhite is excited to start the regular season on home court and although Acadia is a strong opponent, he knows his team will be ready to compete.
"The team has been working extremely hard over the past few weeks, in preparation for our opening weekend here at home. Acadia will be a tough opponent, who returns most of their team who lost in the AUS Championship match last year. Our keys to success will be controlling things on our side of the net (serving, passing, defence) to put pressure on Acadia's strong offence."
The Sea-Hawks are a young team this season, with 11 of their 13 players being in either their first or second years of eligibility. 4th Year Libero Lauren Fenez (Hammonds Plains, NS) will provide some veteran leadership for the Hawks this season, but that will have to wait until December, as Fenez is currently away completing an academic semester in Saint Pierre and Miquelon.
The Sea-Hawks and Axewomen play their first game on Friday night at 7:00pm followed by a rematch on Saturday at 7:00pm. The series concludes on Sunday with a 1:00pm matchup. All games will be played at The Field House and tickets are available at the ticket office. Games will also be webcast live on www.AUStv.ca.