WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The visiting Saint Mary's Huskies grabbed a 3-0 win over the hometown Axewomen in a highly anticipated match after the Axewomen posted a tight fought 3-2 win in Halifax in early January.

The Huskies pulled out to a 14-1 lead on five Saint Mary's kills and three service aces and never looked back, handing the Axewomen a 25-13 opening set loss.

The second set was a back-and-forth battle that had the Axewomen pull away early in the frame. Kills by Wesley-Ann Bailey (Ottawa, Ont.) and Jenna Lake (Conception Bay South, Nfld.), a service ace by Lake, and several attack errors by the Huskies gave Acadia a 14-6 lead.

Saint Mary's closed the Acadia lead to 19-17 and eventually tied the set at 24-24 on an Olivia Bell (Lahave, N.S.) service ace. With a 26-25 advantage, the Axewomen fell short of wrapping up the second set, giving up a service error and attack error at the end of the 28-26 loss.

Interrupted by a fire alarm, a somewhat scattered Axewomen team didn't bounce back in the third set. The Huskies pushed out to an 11-3 lead on the back of Emilia Mikanovich (Minsk, Belarus) and Olivia Bell.

The largest lead of the third and eventual final set came from Acadia's errors that led to an insurmountable 20-11 Huskie lead.

Two kills in a row by Megan Bruhm (Hubley, N.S.) concluded the 25-14 third-set win by the Huskies.

Axewoman Sydney Zakutney led the Axewomen with 8 kills, while Rebecca Dorsey and Taylor Witty shared the defensive effort with 10 and 13 digs respectively.

Mikanovich, named the Subway Player of the Match, posted 10 kills for a kill percentage of 0.321 and 15.0 points. Teammate Olivia Bell also recorded 10 kills. Taylor Lougheed (Calgary, Alta.) had 24 assists and 10 digs.

Acadia remains in second place with an 11-4 record, while Saint Mary's, with a game in hand, improves to 10-4 and remains in third place.

The Axewomen travel to Halifax tomorrow evening to take on the first-place Dalhousie Tigers, while the Huskies host UNB.