Men's Volleyball Provides an Exciting Finish to 2011 Calendar of Play

In a weekend of firsts, the Memorial Men's Volleyball team enjoyed lots of great
moments in hosting the AUS-Quebec Interlock Tournament at the Field House. This
marked the first time that Memorial hosted this event and participating teams
were complimentary to the hosts on their ability to deliver a quality event,
with strong fan support. The Sea-Hawks went 1-2 against the Quebec teams,
picking up a match win over Montreal, but losing to Laval and Sherbrooke. Full
tournament results are available at www.goseahawks.ca

     

On Friday evening, the Sea-Hawks took to the court against the Montreal
Carabins. The Sea-Hawks got off to a slow start and Montreal took an
early lead in the first set. As the men settled in Memorial began scoring some
points against the Carabins, however could not catch up in the first set losing
16-25. Heading into the 2nd set, the Sea-Hawks looked much more confident and comfortable with such a raucous home crowd. Both teams rallied back and forth in a close match, the Sea-Hawks took the 2nd set 25-17 on the strength of a fast attack. The hometown crowd was behind the team from the start and got louder as the match went on celebrating every point the Sea-Hawks scored.

 


The Sea-Hawks drew confidence from this and were solid in the 3rd and 4th sets
winning 25-21 and 25-22. Sea-Hawks fans were on their feet as the team won
their opening home match of the season. Andrew Stephens had a dominating night
for the Sea-Hawks with 21 kills and 35 digs. Rookie Blair Parsons showed his
athleticism and contributed immediately offensively adding 21 kills for the
Sea-Hawks.

     

On Saturday at 11am, the Sea-Hawks faced the #4 ranked team in the country, the
Laval Rouge et Or. Laval was strong from the start and took the first two sets
25-15. In the third set, the Sea-Hawks played strong and did not give up as
Laval tried to finish off the match in 3 sets. Brad Jolliffe was strong
defensively digging the ball 57 times during the match. The final points of
the set went back and forth, but the Sea-Hawks stayed focused and won 27-25.
Laval won the match in the 4th set 25-14. Blair Parsons led the way
offensively for the Sea-Hawks with 15 kills and 27 digs. This match
represented the first time that Memorial has won a game against the top ranked
Laval Rouge et Or and their poise during the final points of the match
demonstrated the growth in this year's team.

     

On Saturday evening, the Sea-Hawks faced Sherbrooke in their final match of the
tournament. The Sea-Hawks deviated from time to time from their game plan,
giving Sherbrooke a small window to score some key points. Sherbrooke won the
first set 20-25. The Sea-Hawks started strong in the 2nd match, but some
untimely errors, allowed Sherbrooke to win the match 22-25. The third set was
exciting all the way through, with the Sea-Hawks making a four point run to tie
the match. Both teams went back and forth and the Sea-Hawks held set point on
two occasions but Sherbrooke stayed alive and ultimately won the match 25-27.
The fans stood on their feet in appeciation of the work of the Sea-Hawks all
weekend against the Quebec teams.

     

The Sea-Hawks also held what hopes to be their first annual Teddy Toss, where
fans brought Teddy Bears and tossed them to center court between the first and
second sets on Saturday evening. All teddy's collected will join the Operation
Toys for Kids donation to the Salvation Army to help children in need this
Christmas. The Sea-Hawks also celebrated their partnership with Canadian Blood
Services on Saturday. The Memorial Men's Volleyball team have been involved
with Canadian Blood Services Partners for Life(PFL) Program for the past 4
seasons. The Partners for Life program allows groups and organizations to
donate blood together as a team. The Sea-Hawks have committed to making 30
blood donations this year and have surpassed that pledge by 117%. In 2012, the
Sea-Hawk have committed to raising its pledge to 70 donations. The Sea-Hawks
encourage all fans to help save a life and consider donating blood whenever
they can. Olivia Reardon a bright-eyed, beautiful two year old, joined team
captains from Memorial and Sherbrooke in a ceremonial coin toss pre-match.
Olivia was diagnosed with Pearson Syndrome three days before her first
birthday. Pearson Syndrome is a rare blood disorder that affects 1 in 80
million people and Olivia is the only child in Newfoundland and Labrador with
this terminal illness. Olivia receives blood and platelet transfusions
regularly at the Janeway Children's Hospital in St. John's. The Sea-Hawks are
committed to their partnership with Canadian Blood Services and to helping
Olivia and others that need blood through their team donations.

     

Sea-Hawks swimmer David Forbes missed the first day of racing dealing with
flight cancellations so was only able to swim two of his four events. Forbes
was very strong in his 100m Butterfly racing to a 57.03 finishing 26th overall,
it was his best time the past two years. Forbes also went 23.87 in the 50m
Freestyle to finish 30th overall. He was just over the CIS Championship
standard in both events and missed his top two events the 100m Freestyle and
50m Butterfly on Friday.

     

All Sea-Hawk teams are now finished their fall schedule and competitions will
resume on January 7&8th, with women's volleyball at home against the CBU Capers
and basketball at home against the Dalhousie Tigers.

   

We hope that your holiday season is safe and look forward to your continued
support in 2012!