Alana Murphy attempts hit against Moncton

WOLFVILLE, NS - The Acadia Axewomen lost their first game of 2012 in a 3-1 match loss to the Moncton Aigles Bleus. The loss drops the Axewomen to 3-7, while Moncton improves to 3-7, creating a three-way tie for sixth place between Moncton, Acadia and Memorial.
 
The Axewomen played a strong first set that saw them take a commanding 14-5 lead. The Axewomen would hold onto their lead for the entire set, finishing the first game 25-17 in their favour. The Aigles Bleus, however, would go on to win three sets in a row to lock up their first win since their last meeting against the Axewomen on November 20th in Moncton, ending a three game losing streak.

The second set saw a close see-saw battle between the Axewomen and the Aigles Blues with the score in a constant deadlock until a 21-21 tie was broken by an Acadia attack error followed by an service ace by Moncton's Genevieve LeMay and a kill by Player of the Game Stephanie Lagace. The second set ended with a Moncton block by Lagace.

Behind 18-12 in the third set, Acadia made a strong effort to claw back from a six point deficit that saw them tying the game at 19. Despsite the Axewomen’s effort, Moncton would pull out a 25-21 win that started with a Lagace kill at 20-19.

The fourth and final set played out much like the second set, with a close see-saw battle being played out between the Axewomen and the Aigles Bleus. Unfortunately, the fourth set would indeed play out like the previous second set with Moncton taking the final frame 25-20.

The Axewomen out-hit Moncton 147 to 138 with a kill advantage of 51-43, but fell short on the score board giving up 25 attack errors along with nine service errors. Axewoman Kristen Bolduc had a hitting percentage of 0.421, while teammate and Acadia's Subway Player of the Game, senior outside hitter Alana Murphy had a game high 15 kills.

The Axewomen will take the weekend off as they prepare for a road game next Friday against the CIS #9 Dalhousie Tigers who will seek revenge for a 3-0 loss against Acadia before the Christmas Holidays. The Tigers' loss to Acadia on November 25, bumped Dalhousie off of the CIS Top Ten, but they resurfaced after the break . Dalhousie currently has a record of 7-2 and are second in the AUS standings.

Moncton returns home tonight to host the CIS #3 Saint Mary's Huskies who hold onto first place in the AUS standings with a 9-0 record.