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Molson Weekend Summary
The Sea~Hawks had a busy weekend on the road and at home. The women's volleyball team had their home opener against Cape Breton Friday and Saturday at the Field House. The Field House then the site of a weekend basketball double header series against the Saint Mary's men and women. the men's volleyball team travelled to Fredericton for the Interlock tournament that involved four matches in three days against the tough competition of the Quebec conference. The swim teams were also in action, tapered and ready for fast times at the AUS Invitational at Dalhousie.
Women's Basketball
Saturday Memorial 64 Saint Mary's 61 (boxscore)
The Sea~Hawks got back on the winning track this weekend picking up eight points in two home victories over the Saint Mary’s University Huskies. Without 2008/09 AUS Rookie of the year Ally Forsey in the line-up, the Sea~Hawks would need big games from the rest of the team. Despite Huskies’ rookie Justine Colley scoring a game-high 27 points, and leading a strong fourth quarter charge, Memorial was able to hold on and take the victory 64-61. It was the 2009 Nita Chambers Sutton Award winner Erin Mullaley who stepped it up for the ‘Hawks draining 13 points, and adding five helpers, while Victoria Thistle continued her strong play scoring 15 points and grabbing 9 rebounds of her own.
Sunday Memorial 54 Saint Mary's 50 (boxscore)
In Sunday’s rematch between the ‘Hawks and Huskies it was once again Mullaley who led the way scoring a game-high 15 points, including 9 points from beyond the arc. Grace Fishbein earned HITS FM player of the game honors scoring 13 points, while Ericka Gratton added 12 points off the bench for Memorial. Early in the game the Huskies’ suffered a great blow when they lost forward Laure Pitfield with a knee injury, but with the great shooting from sisters Robbi and Kelsey Daley, the Huskies were able to keep it close until the final buzzer. With the win the Sea~Hawks find themselves atop the AUS standings after the first half of the season with a record of 5-1. Memorial’s next games will be when they host the St. FX X-Women on January 9th and 10th at the Field House.
Men's Basketball
Saturday Memorial 79 Saint Mary's 77 (boxscore)
The Sea~Hawks looked sharp on Saturday night when they picked up the first win of their season at home against the Saint Mary’s Huskies. After taking a 46-29 lead into the half, Saint Mary’s dominated the third quarter led by Joey Haywood who scored a game high 28 points going 13-22 from the field. With just over three minutes reaming in the third quarter Ante Samodol and Jason Shepherd took control for the ‘Hawks starting with a Samodol block on Haywood of Saint Mary’s. From there Shepherd scored 6 of his 20 points in the final three minutes, while adding a game-high 14 rebounds, leading Memorial to a 79-77 victory.
In a touching pre-game ceremony on Saturday Memorial and a
community of supporters showed their respect for Clarence Sutton, a
former basketball player and coach who passed away in October after
a courageous battle with cancer. Memorial Head Coach Peter Benoite
was pleased to pick up a win on the special night with
Sutton’s family in attendance.
He said, “Clarence taught me a lot over the years and he made
be a better player and coach. When I first met him he was about the
age I am now and he was always approachable and willing to provide
advice. He was deserving of this special recognition and in many
ways this win was for him and his family. It was great to see so
many people involved in basketball in Newfoundland out to show
their respect.”
Benoite and the men’s basketball team will wear a special
number four patch, Sutton’s jersey number, all season on
their home uniforms in recognition of the contribution he made to
basketball at Memorial and in the province.
Sunday Saint Mary's 80 Memorial 75 (boxscore)
On Sunday, it was a tightly contested matchup as the Sea~Hawks led the Huskies’ at halftime. Once again Saint Mary’s came out firing in the second half led by fifth year guard Mark McLaughlin who scored 25 of his game-high 34 points in the second half, 18 of which came from beyond the arc. Despite Memorial’s best efforts, the offensive talent of Haywood and McLaughlin combined for 61 points, leading them to an 80-75 victory over Memorial. The Sea~Hawks shot only 53% from the free throw line, missing timely free throws in the fourth quarter. The Sea~Hawks’ Jason Shepherd HITS FM earned player of the game honours for the second game in a row draining 19 points and adding 8 assists in the loss.
Memorial will now have a break before going after their second win
of the season when they host the St. FX X-Men on January 9th and
10th at the Field House. The Sea~Hawks are now 1-5, but picked up a
big four points in the standings this weekend.
Women's Volleyball
Friday CBU 3 Memorial 1 (boxscore)
For the first time in three weeks, the women’s volleyball team took the court in AUS competition when they hosted the Cape Breton University Capers in their home opener on Friday evening. Cape Breton’s height and experience proved to be too much for the young Sea~Hawks team defeating them in four sets. Left sides Hilary Cummings and Megan Brown led the Capers offense with 21 and 13 kills respectively, while also leading the defense adding 21 and 22 digs a piece. The Sea~Hawks’ all-star left side Sasha Wilkins showed very few signs of fatigue after missing the week of practice due to the flu. Wilkins led the ‘Hawks with 17 kills, and added 23 digs in four sets of play. Despite a good effort from the Memorial team, their third set collapse was the difference as they were defeated 25-20, 25-27, 25-11, and 25-22.
Friday’s game was a Go Pink Series game, a fundraiser by the
Sea~Hawks women’s team for the Canadian Breast Cancer
Foundation.
Saturday CBU 3 Memorial 0 (boxscore)
The Sea~Hawks and Capers were back on the court Saturday afternoon, with the ‘Hawks still hungry for their first win of the season. The Capers came ready to play once again led by Cummings who finished the match with 10 kills and 9 digs. CBU libero Kristen Ryan was all over the court Saturday afternoon picking up a team high 18 digs on the way to the Capers straight sets victory. Despite Nicole Jolliffe’s 16 digs, the ‘Hawks were unable to score points against the talented Capers. With the victory, the Capers now move into second place in the AUS, while Memorial remains in 7th. The Sea~Hawks will close out the first half of their season next weekend when they travel to Acadia to meet in the Axewomen in a two game weekend series.
Men's Volleyball
Friday Memorial 3 McGill 0 (boxscore)
Memorial’s men’s volleyball team picked up their first win of the season on Friday night when they beat the McGill Redmen in three straight sets in Fredericton, New Brunswick at AUS Interlock competition. It was left sides Andrew Stephens and Josh Ennis who led the way for the ‘Hawks each scoring 7 kills in the match. Sophomore middle Scott Hickman added 6 kills of his own, and four service aces on the way to the Sea~Hawks victory.
The Sea~Hawks looked really sharp in the match, making a number of athletic plays to gain seperation on the Redmen. Coach Luke Harris had to be pleased with the teams hustle.
Saturday Montreal 3 Memorial 1 (boxscore)
On Saturday, the Sea~Hawks took on the Montréal Carabins in their first of two matches of the day. Despite the great play of Andrew Stephens and Alex Barrett who each tallied 12 kills in the match, Montréal’s Andy Oshima’s 19 kills, and 13 digs were the difference, as Montréal took the match 3 sets to 1. The Sea~Hawks again played well against Montreal.
Saturday Sherbrooke 3 Memorial 0 (boxscore)
In their second match of the day the Sea~Hawks took on the Sherbrooke Vert et Or. It was Stephens and Barrett once again leading the way for the ‘Hawks with 7 kills, but a second set collapse was too much to overcome. Sherbooke won the match 3-0.
Sunday Laval 3 Memorial 0 (boxscore)
On the last day of Interlock Memorial met their toughest competition of the weekend when they took on the 4th ranked CIS Laval. This time it was setter Brad Pitcher who helped keep the ‘Hawks alive with 10 digs and 22 assists in the straight sets loss to the Rouge et Or. The loss wraps but the first half of the Sea~Hawks season, but they will return to the court on January 15th when they travel to Halifax to take on the Dalhousie Tigers.
Swimming (full meet results)
Memorial’s swimmers were back in the pool this weekend at the AUS Invitational at Dalplex in Halifax. It was David Forbes leading the way again for the Sea~Hawks starting off with a bang on Saturday morning in the 100m Freestyle event. Forbes swam to a new Newfoundland Provincial Record of 51.20 in the event, breaking the previous record of former Sea~Hawk Chris Daly set back in 1984. With the record breaking swim, Forbes qualified for the CIS Championships to be held at the University of Toronto in February. Forbes went on to win the 100m Freestyle later in the day, while finishing a close second in the 50m Butterfly in a time of 25.80, also good enough to qualify for the CIS Championships.
Also on Saturday, fifth year Tim Rusted finished 3rd overall in the
200m Individual Medley, while the men's 4x100m Medley Relay
finished 3rd led by rookie Adam Harvey who posted a personal best
time of 1:01.50 in 100m Backstroke leg of the race. At the end of
Saturday’s races, the Sea~Hawks sat in third positon in a
deep field that contained the strong McGill Redmen, along with the
addition of Acadia to the regular field of Dalhousie, UNB, and
Mount Allison.
On the women’s side the Sea~Hawks were led by 2nd year Kelsie
Rogers. Rogers finished in 3rd place in the 100m Freestyle with a
time of 59.86, only 1 second off of the CIS Championship standard
and broke 1 minute for the first time in her career. Rogers also
finished 3rd in the 50m Butterfly with another personal best time
of 30.17.
On Sunday, it was Forbes in front again swimming to a lifetime best
time of 23.52 in the 50m Freestyle while taking home 1st place.
Forbes added a 4th place finish in the 100m Butterfly, after
qualifying second with a time of 57.53, qualifying Forbes for the
CIS Championships in all four of his individual events.
Fifth year Tim Rusted continued his successful career adding
another personal best of 16:17.14 in the 1500m Freestyle, good
enough for 2nd place and a trip to the CIS Championships for a
fourth straight year.
With great swims from Tim Bennett in the 200m and 50m backstroke,
and a strong team performance in the 4x100m Freestyle relay, the
Sea~Hawks swam to a third overall team finish, just 3 points behind
McGill and Dalhousie.
It was once again Kelsie Rogers leading the Sea~Hawk women swimming
to a 3rd place finish in the 50m Freestyle, just narrowly missing
the CIS qualifying time. Rogers added another personal best in the
100m Butterfly with a time of 1:08.18, on her way to helping the
women’s team to a 4th place overall finish behind Dalhousie,
UNB, and McGill.