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Nov. 1&2 Wesmen Women’s Volleyball vs. Simon Fraser 7 p.m. @ Duckworth Centre
AWAY
Nov. 1-3 Wesmen Men’s Basketball @ Brock Invitational
Wesmen Women’s Basketball @ UPEI, St. FX, Acadia and Dalhousie
Wesmen Athletes of the Week
Aldin Smalling – Men’s Basketball
Tournament MVP – Midway Chrysler Invitational
Averaged 23 points/7 rbs/7 steals
Talitha Lemoine - Women's Volleyball
127 assists in 3-2, 3-0 sweep of Calgary Dinosaurs
General Wesmen News
The University of Winnipeg is now the permanent home of the Manitoba Basketball Hall of Fame. On Friday night between games of the Midway Chrysler Invitational Tournament, four members of the 1950 and 1951 Junior National Champion Winnipeg Stellars took part in a ribbon cutting ceremony to officially open the site on the second floor concourse of the Duckworth Centre. The ten remaining Stellars players also presented a donation of $1000 to Hall of Fame Chairman Vic Pruden.
Men’s Basketball
Headline: WESMEN IN HIGH GEAR DURING MIDWAY CHRYSLER TOURNAMENT
Last Week:
The Wesmen had an impressive debut in front of home fans, winning the Midway Chrysler Invitational with two victories over solid opponents. Winnipeg defeated Concordia University Stingers 78-61 on Friday night, and downed Wilfrid Laurier 80-66 on Saturday. Coach Dave Crook was happy with the tournament championship and cited his team’s defensive play as the deciding factor.
“The defense was good, we really gave people problems with our defense and rebounding,” said Crook. 2nd year guard Aldin Smalling was named tournament MVP after averaging 23 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists, and his first year backcourt mate Erfan Nasajpour earned All Star honours by averaging 12 points and 7 assists over the weekend. Crook also had praise for veteran post Dan Duggan, who averaged a double/double with 10 rebounds and 11.5 points.
“It’s so important when your 5th year guy steps up,” said Crook.
This Week:
The Wesmen are off to Ontario for the Brock University Invitational, where they will face potential top ten team in McMaster on Friday night and a tough opponent in Brock on Saturday.
Women’s Volleyball
Headline: A GREAT START TO THE SEASON
Last Week:
The Wesmen served notice to the rest of the Canada West Conference with a weekend sweep of defending CIS silver medallists the University of Calgary Dinosaurs. On Friday after storming out to a 2-0 set lead, Winnipeg let Calgary back in the match, before coming out on top in a close 5th set. On Saturday the Wesmen didn’t let the Dinos get up off the mat and put them away early with a 3-0 win.
“We’re getting better, Calgary came out strong in the 3rd set and this time we stayed with them – we’re not giving up,” said Coach Diane Scott. She also felt that Friday’s 3rd set against the Dinos was a turning point for her team as they rallied back from a large deficit to make the set a close one, setting the stage for the eventual match win. The Wesmen were led by the power of Aynsley Laluk and Andrea Charbonneau as the duo averaged 13.5 and 18.5 kills respectively. Setter Talitha Lemoine ran the show with 82 and 45 match assists for Winnipeg.
This Week:
The Wesmen hope an undefeated October will carry over into November, as they take an eight match winning streak into the weekend against the Clansmen of Simon Fraser. Game times for the Canada West regular season match-ups at the Duckworth Centre are 7 p.m on both Friday and Saturday.
Women’s Basketball
Headline: ANOTHER TOURNAMENT ANOTHER WIN
Last Week:
The Wesmen took home the Bison Invitational Tournament Championship after going 3-0 during weekend play. On Sunday after seeing Concordia jump out to an early double digit lead Coach Tanya McKay’s Wesmen had to dig a little deeper to claim a 68-58 victory.
“We showed a lot of maturity and fought our way back in it,” said McKay. “Our veteran players really stepped it up.” One of those veteran players was 5th year post Angela Willerton, who came off the bench in all three contests, contributing some solid minutes. Guard JoAnne Wells continued her fine early season form, picking up the tournament MVP and hitting for a career high 35 points on Friday night in an 81-71 win over Calgary. 1st year guard Uzo Asagwara was named an All Star and Heidi Schwartz turned in consistent performances in all 3 match-ups.
This Week:
The Wesmen hope to build on their 6-0 record when they head for the East Coast, taking on four Maritime university opponents on Thursday through Sunday. Coach McKay is looking forward to the bonding time for her team.
“When we’re tighter and closer – we can be even better,” says McKay. The team flies out on Thursday and plays UPEI that same night. Friday they take on St. FX, Saturday a date with Acadia and Sunday Dalhousie is the opponent.
Men’s Volleyball
Headline: TOUGH MATCH-UP
Last Week:
The Wesmen opened their Canada West regular season schedule with a pair of games against No. 1 ranked Alberta. No. 7 ranked Winnipeg found themselves on the losing end of both matches but Coach Larry McKay finds reason to be optimistic.
“In both matches we were very close in the first set, but we couldn’t maintain our level of play after that,” said McKay. “But given the youth of our group they handled themselves well and showed some steady improvement.”
4th year middle hitter Cam Dobie and 4th year libero, Shawn Scarcello both had strong matches for the Wesmen.
This Week:
The Wesmen have the upcoming weekend off.