Wood named coach of the year, five Axewomen honoured by AUS

WOLFVILLE – Following a first-place finish in the AUS, the Acadia Axewomen volleyball team have received four all-star awards, an all-rookie nod and one major award as Michelle Wood was recognized as the AUS coach of the year on Wednesday.

For Wood, this is her second consecutive nod and fourth time overall earning this award, also winning in the 2017-18 and 2019-20 seasons.

As a team, Acadia led the conference in kills per set (11.86), kills (925), total blocks (163) and points (1,217).

The fourth award allows Wood to pass Dalhousie’s Rick Scott and Saint Mary’s Darren Russell into second place for all-time AUS coach of the year wins. She now sits just one back of Moncton’s Monette Boudreau-Carroll, who won the award a league-best fives times.

With this win, Wood becomes the AUS nominee for U SPORTS coach of the year.

Acadia saw two players named first team all-stars, Charlotte Dean (Mississauga, ON) and Alexia Lemay-Evans (Azilda, ON). This was a first for each player, with this being the third all-star nod for Dean. She had previously been named a second team all-star in 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons.

This season Lemay-Evans finished third in the conference in points per set with 3.3 and fourth in kills per set with 2.69 – both totals led the Axewomen. She also had 23 aces, six blocks and 25 block assists.

As setter, Dean led the conference in assists and assists per set with 642 and 8.34 respectively. Amongst setters she also led them in digs with 170, good enough for 2.21 digs per set. Offensively Dean also led all setters in kills with 55.

Erica Fisher (Middle Stewiacke, NS) and Rebecca Dorsey (Toronto, ON) were named to the AUS second team.

This is Dorsey’s third all-star nod having previously been named to the first team in 2022-23 and second team in 2021-22. She finished second in the AUS and U SPORTS with 359 total digs. She was also second in the AUS and third in U SPORTS in digs per set with 4.66.

For Fisher, she was previously named to the AUS all-rookie team in 2021-22. This season she led the conference and was fifth in the country in hitting percentage at .325. She was second in the conference in solo blocks with 34, while also finishing the year with 26 block assists. Her totals put her 11^th in the conference in points at 195.

The final Axewoman to be recognized with an all-rookie team nod was Allison Van Zeumeren (Brampton, ON). She finished her rookie campaign with 1.03 kills per set, five aces, four block assists and 1.2 points per set.

The AUS semifinal round opens on Thursday night at home for Acadia when they host UNB. Game 2 will take place on Saturday in Fredericton, while a third game if necessary, will be back at Acadia on Monday night. First serve for all matches is scheduled for 7 p.m.