Volleyball Teams hope to leave UNB seeing RED!

With the Mercury dropping drastically outside the hottest place to be is courtside as all four court teams are back in action this weekend. The red hot ticket will be in St. John's at the Field House as the Men's and Women's Volleyball teams host the UNB Varsity Reds in a weekend double dip with playoff implications while the Sea~Hawks basketball teams will travel to Cape Breton for a two game tilt versus the Capers.

 

Women's Volleyball

     

The Sea~Hawks women (3-6) cannot get too caught up with their recent sweep of CBU heading into this weekend's tilt with the Improving Varsity Reds. Currently sitting in a fifth place tie with Acadia means the Sea~Hawks are still on the outside looking in if the playoffs were to start today. In spite of sitting in last place at 1-8, the Varsity Reds have helped create a bottle neck in front of the Sea~Hawks in the standings as UNB shocked St. Francis X-Women prior to the Christmas break. The X-Women's home court loss to UNB provides the Sea~Hawks the opportunity to leapfrog both Acadia and STFX by the end of this weekend's matches

     

The Sea~Hawks will get to play their second straight home series with the loudest and best Volleyball fans in the AUS cheering them on. In order to fuel the fans the Sea~Hawks passing game will have to continue to improve. The current level of improvements can be attributed to the fact that Captain and current AUS Subway Athlete of the Week Erin Bursey are once again healthy and her teammates are feeding off of her presence on the court. Perhaps the change in energy can also be attributed to rookies Krista Hogan and Lauren Miller providing some calm and consistency as they have been leading the crop of first years that Coach Bill Thistle relied so heavily upon during the fall. Hogan was vital in the come from behind win this past Sunday, stepping in for Julia Watts as she struggled in the early going. Hogan stepped in and stepped up in the final three sets which helped turn the tide in the Sea~Hawks favour. Watch for Watts to bounce back strong this weekend as the Sea~Hawks starting Libber has continuing to grow with the starter's role.

     

The match -ups at the net should be intriguing as Chantel Jones and the high flying Angela Peddle are facing off against the quickly improving and equally athletic Varsity Reds who also pack a nice one-two, offence -defence punch with Rebecca Glancey and Katrina Legutky. For fans of skill and power consistent play at the net will be vital to either team securing the win and climbing up the standings.

     

Match times at the Field House are:

     

Saturday January 14, 6:00pm

     

Sunday January 15, 11am

     

Men's Volleyball

     

The reigning AUS champion UNB Varsity Reds (5-3) fly into the Nest looking to officially knock the vastly improving Sea~Hawks out of the playoffs. The Sea~Hawks (1-7) are coming off a very productive holiday season that saw them earn a record of 5-2 during two weeks of play at home and in Calgary. In each case the holidays were designed to develop a team that was ready for the stretch run in January as the Sea~Hawks look to build upon their record. Over their last 10 matches they have a record of six wins and four losses.

     

The weekend's matches are the first of many challenges for the Sea~Hawks as they hope to leap into the playoff conversation. Starting the second half with a win on Saturday night would be the perfect place to start. Naysayers may retort the challenge is too steep but the team is looking to prove that it is not unlikely. The veteran laden Sea~Hawks feature a core group of players who have literally grown up within the Volleyball program bringing the team from a group of talented players to a team of skilled players who have proven they can match up with best in the country. In spite of the Sea~Hawks attack absorbing a major shock as rookie standout Blair Parsons has decided to spend the semester at home, the team is confident they can retool their attack as they move their focus on to team goals.

     

A one game at a time approach is now the focus of the Men's Volleyball team as Coach Harris will rely heavily on Andrew Stephens and on fifth year Alex Barrett who has consistently been versatile as he winds down his playing career at Memorial. Veterans Brad Pitcher and Brad Jolliffe will also need to continue to lead by example for younger players Kendal Schmidt and Alex Jurgenliemk to move forward with their development. If the Sea~Hawks can communicate well they should be able to withstand the attack and defence of UNB who feature two athletic standouts in Julio Fernandez and Brett Ledrew.

     

Both Matches are in the Field House and tickets are still available:

     

Saturday January 14, 8pm

     

Sunday January 15, 1pm

     

Women's Basketball

     

The Sea-Hawks and Capers have had a pretty good rivalry over the past number of years, with either Memorial or Cape Breton claiming the AUS crown for the past 10 years. The Capers have won the last 3 consecutive championships and were likely favored coming into the year to emerge as AUS champion again this year as they are returning are relatively veteran squad. During the offseason, the Capers added a familiar name, as Victoria Thistle, who played 4 years at Memorial went to Sydney to compete for the Capers and finish out her eligibility.

     

The Capers have shown that they can compete with the best, as they were a CIS top 10 ranked team after the final games of the fall semester. Jahlica Kirnon, an AUS 1st team all-star last year and Nichole Works a 2nd team allstar in 2010-11 continue to anchor the Capers offence, while Cassie Cooke in her first year with the Capers exploded offensively to score 34 points in a recent loss to Acadia. The Capers are coming off three consecutive losses, losing their final game of the fall semester to Saint Mary's and following up with a loss to the Acadia Axewomen in Wofville last week. On Wednesday night, the Capers lost to St FX 66-56 at home, so this weekend's match ups against the Sea-Hawks are important for the Capers and their ability to make a run at a 1st round playoff bye. The Capers always remain a threat and will be eager to resume their road to the playoffs with two wins against the Sea-Hawks in Cape Breton.

     

The Sea-Hawks will have to remain focused on defense - inside and out and will look to veteran post Ally Forsey to play well against the solid post play of the Capers. The Sea-Hawks will need to be focused for a full 40 minutes to get the job done against a good team in Sydney, where the fans also love their basketball. Hopefully the Sea-Hawks can continue to find the hot hand offensively from outside, so that the Capers have to play honest defense.

 

You can follow along at home, www.caperstv.ca

       

Robyn O'Reilly currently sits in 5th place in AUS scoring with 17.8 points again, while Cassie Cooke is 2nd in AUS scoring and leads the Capers with 20ppg. Ally Forsey is in 2nd place in AUS rebounding with 9.5 rpg. Former Sea-Hawk Vicki Thistle is averaging just over 20 minutes a game with the Capers and is averaging 9.2ppg.

Men's Basketball

     

The Sea-Hawks men's basketball team have regrouped after two tough losses at home to Dalhousie and will head to Cape Breton focused on trying to steal a win on the road against the Capers. The Capers currently sit in 4th place in league standings with a 4-3 record and suffered a 40 point loss to the Acadia Axemen on their first game of 2012. The Capers suffered an OT lost to Dalhousie during the fall semester and also was defeated the first game of the season by St. FX. In action Wednesday night in Sydney, the Capers sent St.Francis Xavier back to Antigonish with a 101-88 loss.

       

You can follow along at home, www.caperstv.ca

       

The Sea-Hawks will need to focus on their own game and play both ends of the court as they face an athletic Capers squad. Rebounding, defense and a solid offensive attack will be critical components of picking up a win on the Capers home court. Jason Shepherd continues to lead the Sea-Hawks offensively with 17.9ppg, while Mike Helsby has been one of the Sea-Hawks most consistent players and finds himself 11th in AUS scoring with 16.6ppg.

Men's & Women's Curling

     

In March 2012, Memorial University and Curling NL played host to the CIS-CCA Championships and the men's team skipped by Colin Thomas won the national championship in a narrow 7-6 victory over the University of Manitoba. With that win, the team earned the right to represent Canada at an international bonspiel in Japan and will depart for Edmonton on January 19th to meet the Laurier women's team who were also national champions and will represent Canada at this event. From there, the team heads to Japan and will compete in the Karuizawa International Curling Championships, a 16 team event. Colin Thomas, Cory Schuh, Chris Ford, Spencer Wicks, Stephen Ryan and head coach Jeff Thomas will represent Memorial, NL and their country as they embark on this competitive experience of a lifetime.

     

But before heading off to Japan, the team is heading to Cornwall, PEI to the Atlantic University Curling Championships to see if they can get back to the national championship as the Atlantic qualifier in the CIS-CCA Curling Championships being hosted by Brock University in Welland, ON March 14-18, 2012. Memorial did not have teams participated in the Atlantic Championship in 2011, as they received a berth at nationals as the host team.

     

The Cornwall Curling Club will host the Atlantic University Curling Championships from January 13-15, with five men's teams, and an equal number of women's rinks taking part. This event will use a double knockout draw, with the A and B side winners from both the men's and women's events representing the Atlantic region at the CIS/CCA University Championships from March 14-18 at Brock. The teams will practice the evening of Friday, January 13th, with play getting underway on Saturday the 14th, with draws at 9 am and 2 and 7 pm, and wrapping up on Sunday the 15th, with the A finals at 9 am and the B finals at 2 pm. All games in the competition are 10 ends.

     

Saint Mary's University won both the Atlantic men's and women's titles last year. The 2011 CIS/CCA Canadian men's championship rink, the Memorial University rink skipped by Colin Thomas, is also in the Atlantic event this year. These two rinks will compete as Team Canada in the Karuizawa International Curling Championships in Japan January 25-30, while winning teams from this year's CIS/CCA championships will represent Canada at the FISU Winter Universiade in Maribor, Slovenia, January 30-Feb. 9, 2013.

     

Competing this year representing Memorial this year on the women's side are Erin Porter, Alysha Renouf, Julie Devereaux and Carolyn Suley. They will be coached by Rob Thomas. On the men's side, Memorial will be represented by Colin Thomas, Cory Schuh, Chris Ford and Spencer Wicks, with Jeff Thomas back as coach.

     

UPEI, Dalhousie, St. FX and Acadia will also compete at the event. To follow the results http://peicurling.com/aucc/