Sea-Hawks Basketball Home Openers this weekend

This weekend Sea~Hawks basketball will open at the Field House with the Cape Breton Capers coming to town for a weekend set starting Saturday night 6pm (women) 8pm (men). The teams will be back on the court on Sunday at 11am (women) and 1pm (men). It will be an early test for Memorial as both Capers teams are the reigning AUS champs. The women’s volleyball team, fresh off their opening weekend, will travel to Fredericton for a pair of games against the Varsity Reds.

 

Basketball

The women’s and men’s basketball teams will be opening up their season against the Cape Breton Capers this weekend at the Field House. Action will begin this Saturday with the women’s beginning at 6pm followed shortly after by the men’s game at 8pm. On Sunday game times are 11am and 1pm for the women and men respectively.

 

Women’s Basketball

The women’s team begins the long road to the 2011 Subway AUS Championship this weekend as they open the season against their long time rival, the Capers.

 

The Sea~Hawks had a mixed preseason but appear ready to start the season with a veteran, balanced roster. The team will be led by Brittany Dalton, from Harbour Main, who returns for her fourth season of Sea-Hawks competition. Joining Dalton, to give the Sea~Hawks a deep veteran core, are Grace Fishbein, Ally Forsey, and Kim Devison. Jennifer Parsons will join Forsey to give the Sea~Hawks a talented frontline.

 

Sophomore Emily Jameson will see an expanded role this year and veteran Robyn O’Rielly, coming off her best season yet, will give the Sea~Hawks a valuable three-point shooter off the bench.

 

For the past nine seasons either the Sea~Hawks or CBU have won the AUS Championship, with Memorial having a slight 5-4 edge.

 

The Capers finished atop the standings in the 2009-10 season, polishing off a 19-1 record. The Sea~Hawks finished in second place. When the two teams met last year Memorial lost both games by scores of 77-53, and 72-55 at Cape Breton. This year the Capers come to the Rock where the Sea-Hawks boasted a spectacular 8-2 home record last season.

 

Players to watch on CBU: First team all-star Kari Everett returns to the Capers this year.

 

Men’s Basketball

The Memorial men’s basketball team has progressed every year since Peter Benoite took over as head coach. Now entering his third season, Benoite and the players appear ready to make a step forward in AUS competition this year. The team will face a big test against an athletic Cape Breton team that has the majority of its personnel returning from the 2009-10 AUS champion team.

 

The Sea~Hawks will be led once again by Jason Shepherd, who is entering his fourth season of play. Shepherd will be joined by Mark Woodland and Robbie Habib to give the Sea~Hawks veteran leadership for a roster that boasts a lot of talented first and second years.

 

Joining the team this season are Will Bradbury and Justin Alliman, both of who are entering their second year of eligibility after transferring to Memorial. Bradbury and Alliman will both get big opportunities to contribute this year and give the Sea~Hawks a stability at the guard position they have not had in recent years.

 

Mike Helsby, Justin Grainger and Matt Cleary also return for Memorial after making solid contributions last season. Helsby, an AUS All-Rookie team member, has been battling injuries but could be ready to play on the weekend.

 

The team will have an opportunity to showcase their ability to be consistent when they take on the Capers this weekend. Last year CBU had an 18-2 record.

 

Players to watch on CBU: The championship nucleus of CBU remains very much intact. The Capers had three all-star selections last year. Guard Jimmy Dorsey was awarded a first team all-star selection, while Guard Paris Carter and Forward Phillip Nkrumah were selected to the second team all-stars. Nkrumah was also named the CIS national defensive player of the year.

   

Volleyball

Women’s Volleyball

The women’s volleyball team opened their season in a very close three set match loss to the reigning AUS Champions Saint Mary’s Huskies last Saturday at home. They were able to follow up this defeat with an inspiring win the next day over the very same Huskies in a straight set win (25-17, 25-23, 25-22).

 

Leading the team in three statistical categories is fifth year Sasha Wilkins from Gambo. Wilkins is currently leading the Sea~Hawks with 20 kills, 8 blocks (tied for first with fourth year Chantal Jones), and 28 total points.

 

This weekend the women’s team heads to UNB to take on the Varsity Reds. Both the Reds and Sea~Hawks are 1-1 after the opening weekend of competition. The Reds’ record comes from a tight 3-2 win over CBU, followed by another close 3-2 loss to St. FX.

 

The Sea~Hawks recognize that the Reds are a quality team for last year they were able to capture the fourth position in the standings and make it to the AUS semi-finals.

 

Player to watch on UNB: Fifth year Erica Hay presently leads her team with 32 kills and 41.5 points on the season. Hay is also two blocks off the team led with six.

 

Game times are Saturday at 7pm and Sunday at 11am.

 

Swimming

Coach Brad Hutton will be taking the women and men’s side to the annual Legends Fall classic at the Aquarena this weekend. This meet will be the teams’ final tune up before they head off to the big AUS invitational hosted by DAL on November 20-21.