CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – Oh, it’s on.
The battle for first place in the Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association (ACAA) women’s volleyball circuit begins when the Holland College Hurricanes (3-0) host the Mount Saint Vincent University Mystics (6-0) today at 6 p.m. and Sunday at noon at Holland College.
And for Hurricanes veteran libero Dana Trainor attitude may trump skill in both games.
“Just being loud, being excited. If you’re not mentally up things don’t go so easy. If you get in someone’s head, it’s go time from there,” said Trainor, a Charlottetown native and last week’s Hurricanes female athlete of the week. “I love the feeling of watching a team crumble point by point.”
Not that the powerful Mystics are prone to crumbling. The defending ACAA champs roared out of the gate with six wins without dropping a set.
Holland College hasn’t given up a set this season either, just a few months after MSVU beat the ‘Canes 3-2 in last year’s conference title game.
For Trainor, who leads the team with 23 digs, MSVU’s offensive tendencies are well known but the ‘Canes must keep the Mystics defence guessing.
“The biggest thing for us is running our offence really quickly. Their weakness is defence. (We want to) make them make the mistakes,” said the fourth-year open academic studies student.
States, now in her second year, along with second-year left side hitter Megan LeBlanc lead Holland College in kills (20). The Bathurst, N.B., native said she’s taken a larger slice of the leadership pie this season, joining Trainor (now in her final season) and setter Gracie Ferguson in the core group.
States also said she knows these two games are early season tests of her squad and of what might happen come playoff time.
“We want to show them we can beat them early on this season and scare them a little bit that we can beat them again if we do meet them in the finals,” said States. “I’d be happy with a split, but I’d much rather come out with two big wins this weekend.”
States is enrolled in the sports and leisure management program.
Tale Of The Tape
A quick look at the Holland College and Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU) women’s volleyball teams this season.
Record
MSVU – 6-0 (1st).
Holland College – 3-0 (2nd).
Sets-Won Sets-Lost
MSVU – 18-0.
Holland College – 9-0.
Kills
MSVU – 179 (1st).
Holland College – 92 (7th).
Assists
MSVU – 162 (1st).
Holland College – 86 (7th).
Digs
MSVU – 139 (6th).
Holland College – 78 (8th).
