October 25, 2018
The Holland Hurricanes women’s volleyball team will return to the court this weekend to start their ACAA regular season. The Hurricanes will be in Truro, NS on Saturday to take on the Dal AC Rams before hosting the Mount Allison Mounties on Sunday at the Holland College Centre for Community Engagement in Charlottetown; games take place at 2pm on each day.
The ‘Canes women’s team is coming off an 18-3 regular season in 2017-18, which saw them finish in second place in the conference standings. At the ACAA Championships last season in Fredericton, they suffered an upset loss to the host, STU Tommies, in five sets in the semi-finals.
The women have four players returning from last season with Brittany States, Philicia Johnson, Lauren Moerike, and Taylor Boudreau-Deveaux back for another year in the maroon and black.
Johnson is excited to get another year underway with the ‘Canes.
“As a returning player for the Hurricanes, I can say every new season is exciting. For Sunday’s home game, I do believe that we are focused, confident and determined to put what we have practiced into play.”
Sophia Blanchard has made the switch from playing basketball with the Hurricanes to volleyball while Laura Ready returns for a second stint with the ‘Canes after previously playing for two seasons from 2014-2016.
New to the the ‘Canes this year are Taylor Allen, Abby Hyndman, Sara Jenkins, Zayley Murphy, Emma Sullivan, and Katie Wood. The mix of veterans and rookies will be looking to bring home an ACAA Championship for the Hurricanes in February when Holland College hosts the tournament on home-court.
Ready is eager to return to the Hurricanes this season.
“I’m really looking forward to heading into regular season this coming weekend. We have a lot of new faces on the volleyball team this year, but each one of us brings a lot of experience. We have already built such incredible chemistry, so I’m very excited to see what we can accomplish this season.”
The ‘Canes had an excellent pre-season, going 4-0 to win the Mount Allison Mounties tournament and 6-0-1 at the UNBSJ tournament.
Last season the Dal AC Rams went 3-18 and finished in seventh during the regular season; the Hurricanes won all three matches with the Rams last year.
In 2017-18, the Mounties finished with a regular season record of 8-14 and in fifth place with the ‘Canes sweeping all three games versus Mount Allison.
While the women’s Hurricanes are set to begin the regular season, the men are awaiting the start of theirs. They begin on Sunday, November 4 when they visit the Université de Sainte-Anne Dragons in Church Point, NS.
The men will host their home opener on Saturday, November 17 at 6:30pm at the Holland College Centre for Community Engagement versus the Dragons.
Coaches pre-game comments
Lori-Beth Dwyer, women’s volleyball Hurricanes head coach
“I feel confident in our team as we head into regular season play. We had a strong pre-season and the girls have been working hard on and off the court and are meshing well as a unit. We have strong leadership and a good work ethic.”
All games can be viewed live at www.acaatv.ca.
For more information on the 2018-19 ACAA volleyball season visit www.acaa.ca.
To connect with the women’s volleyball Hurricanes, visit www.twitter.com/caneswvball.
For more information on the Holland Hurricanes, visit www.hollandcollege.com/athletics, www.facebook.com/hollandhurricanes, www.twitter.com/hc_hurricanes and www.instagram.com/hollandhurricanes.
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For more information about this release, please contact:
Daniel Cudmore, Athletics Development and Communications Coordinator
Tel: (902) 894-6870
Date: Thursday, October 25, 2018
