Great season for X-Women volleyball team
March 18, 2010 2:33 PM
The 2009-2010 X-Women’s volleyball season was extremely successful. Although the team got off to a slow start, ending the first semester with one win to six games, second semester came with an impressive turnaround, with 10 wins in 11 games.
“I think because of our unbalanced schedule, we were able to start a bit slower and work on some things as a team, knowing that the bulk of our matches were in the second term,” says Michelle Aucoin, the team’s Head Coach.
Aucoin is no stranger to success, winning many Atlantic University Sport (AUS) banners playing for the Dalhousie Tigers before graduating, and then as an assistant coach. This year, she was selected by her peers as the 2009-2010 AUS women’s volleyball Coach of the Year.
Aucoin is in her fourth season as the X-Women’s volleyball coach, and lead the team to its first regular season first place finish, defeating every team in the conference at least once. The 11 regular season wins are also the most the X-Women have achieved since the 1996-1997 season.
“For our last match of the year, we played St. Mary’s, and we basically needed to win if we wanted a shot at clinching the regular season title. We beat them on the last day, which guaranteed us first place which was a first for this program and for StFX,” says Aucoin of their regular season success.
The X-Women entered the AUS championship season with the regular season under their belts, where they played a semi-final match and then the St. Mary’s Huskies in the final. The Huskies defeated the X-Women three nothing in the final, claiming their fifth AUS title.
After the championship season, X-Women volleyball left side hitter Catherine Thornton, the AUS Player of the Year, was awarded a first team All-Canadian status. This is the first time an X-Women volleyball player has achieved this.
Thornton, who sat out last season following knee surgery, has rebounded extremely quickly and showed great devotion to her team.
“She was very dedicated to her rehab, over the summer, I think that really speaks to the success she has a player. She works really hard and that comes through,” says Aucoin of the team’s star player.
“It’s so nice to be back playing, and to be with a lot of the girls,” says Thornton. “We’re a really young team, and we have a couple of girls who came back in their fifth years [who] solidified the team. We got a few wins under our belt, and we progressed from there. And it was really nice to have a winning season.”
Thornton, who enters her fourth year as a Celtic Studies student next year, will be continuing with the team. The X-Women volleyball team began their off-court workouts and volleyball practices for next season this week.
“I think every year the team has gotten better, and I think we have a really strong core group of athletes returning next year,” says Aucoin in anticipation of next season. “Hopefully we’ll be able to bring some new athletes into the program and build on some of the success we had last year.”
