By Reegan MacAulay
The Holland Hurricanes had an impressive weekend at home and on the road with five wins across six games. Most notably, the women’s volleyball team collected two much-needed victories in Nova Scotia and the basketball teams provided the McMillan Centre crowds with excellent action.
Here’s what happened in Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association (ACAA) competition between Saturday, Jan. 18 and Sunday, Jan. 19.
Women’s Volleyball
The women’s volleyball Hurricanes finally experienced a weekend to positively look back on, sweeping a road trip doubleheader in Halifax, N.S. with two straight-set victories against the University of King’s ¼â½ÐÊÓƵ (UKC) Blue Devils.
On Saturday, despite the final result being 3-0 in favour of Holland, fans at the Halifax Kingdome were still treated to a back-and-forth match. Both teams exchanged leads in the first set but the Hurricanes slowly pulled away, taking advantage of multiple errors by UKC, and won 25-15. Holland exploded in the second set, jumping out to 7-1 and 14-2 leads; after two timeouts, the Blue Devils rallied back to make the deficit as close as two points. Luckily, the Hurricanes held on 25-20. The third and final set was a near-replica of set two, but, this time, UKC gave Holland a brief scare, coming back from down 15-7 to take a 21-19 lead. Thankfully, a series of service aces and attack errors put the Hurricanes back out front, giving them a 25-21 set win and the game win.
Sunday’s game had about the same patterns as Saturday's, but the Hurricanes consistently found a way to pull ahead at key moments barely. In the first and third sets, UKC took a short lead but could never recover. Despite a strong defensive effort by the Blue Devils, Holland clutched in the closing stages of each set, winning 25-22, 25-18, and 25-15.
Fourth-year left-sides Morgan White (Charlottetown, P.E.I.) and Jenna O’Neill (Cornwall, P.E.I.) remain unstoppable as the team’s top players, contributing 30 kills, 33 digs, and eight service aces over the weekend. Reigning Hurricanes Women’s Volleyball Player of the Week and fourth-year middle Myah Utrosa (Brooklin, Ontario) had strong outings with multiple kills, digs, and service aces, along with third-year right-side Charlotte Sweetapple (Corner Brook, NL). Rookie libero Erica Correard (Rio de Janerio, Brazil) impressed in her one appearance over the weekend, recording nine digs and two assists in Saturday’s match.
The Hurricanes improved to 7-7 after the weekend and jumped to fourth in the standings, two points above Dalhousie, STU, and UKC, and four points behind MSVU. The Blue Devils dropped to 6-8, handing them their fourth loss in their last five games and dropping them from fourth to a tie for fifth with Dalhousie and STU.
Holland will have a home-and-away-game split next weekend. It starts with a must-watch Friday night showdown at the McMillan Centre against the league-leading Mount Allison Mounties, who, at 13-1, haven’t lost a game since their season-opening match on Oct. 26, 2024. The Hurricanes will then travel to Moncton, N.B. on Saturday, Jan. 25 for a late-afternoon matinee against the 3-10 Crandall University Chargers, who look to end a dismal eight-game losing streak.
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Women’s Basketball
The women’s basketball Hurricanes had an uncharacteristic roller coaster of a weekend at the McMillan Centre against the St. Thomas University (STU) Tommies, nearly being upset in game one on Saturday and then struggling offensively and causing consistent turnovers in game two on Sunday.
On Saturday, Holland had a fantastic start, jumping out to a 28-13 lead by the end of the first quarter and recording an 8-0 run in the final minute alone, highlighted by fourth-year guard Amy Plaggenhoef’s (Stratford, P.E.I.) buzzer-beater three-pointer. The Tommies struck back in quarter two with lots of force, outscoring the Hurricanes 24-13 and showing defensive improvements. Down 41-37 at halftime, STU eventually stole the lead and maintained it throughout the third quarter, ending it up 57-53. Each team contested a nail-biting fourth quarter, which saw Holland barely edge ahead en route to their fifth consecutive win on the season 69-64, giving them a 9-2 record.
Looking to keep the momentum going into Sunday as the official top team in the conference and show more dominance, the Hurricanes weren’t as fortunate in game two of the weekend series. In the first quarter, Holland took five minutes to get on the board and totalled just eight points, while STU scored twice as many to lead 16-8 at the end. Things tightened up in quarter two, with the Hurricanes being outscored by just one point and down 31-22 at halftime. They managed to close the gap to eight points after the third quarter at 39-31, but just couldn’t produce any offensive bursts to try and stay alive, ultimately falling 54-38. It was Holland’s first game of the season with less than 60 points scored; previously, across 11 games, they scored less than 70 points only four times.
Fifth-year forward Alexa Rancourt (New Dominion, P.E.I.) led the Hurricanes over the weekend with 30 points, 15 rebounds, six assists, one steal, and one block. Plaggenhoef and third-year guard Lauren Armstrong (Canberra, Australia) contributed 30 points, two three-pointers, 12 rebounds, eight assists, three steals, and two blocks in Saturday’s victory.
The Hurricanes dropped to 9-3 after Sunday, which has them back in a tie for the conference lead with Mount Allison. The Tommies dropped to 3-6 after Saturday but improved to 4-6 after Sunday, ending a four-game losing skid and recording their first win since Nov. 17, 2024.
Holland looks to return to their dominant ways and reclaim their true form next weekend with another McMillan Centre doubleheader, this time against the Crandall University Chargers. Crandall has experienced an abysmal regular season, currently holding a 1-11 record. However, on Saturday, they finally achieved their first win of the season against UNBSJ. Holland and Crandall last played each other on Nov. 15, 2024, with the Hurricanes winning 83-56 in Moncton, N.B.
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Men’s Basketball
It was easily the men’s basketball Hurricanes’ best weekend of the season up to this point, as they swept a McMillan Centre doubleheader against the men’s STU Tommies with 90 or more points in each game and inched closer to second place in the conference.
On Saturday, the Hurricanes had an explosive start to the weekend series, scoring six of their eight first-quarter three-point attempts, which helped them lead 33-16 going into quarter two. The Tommies started to catch up ahead of halftime, being outscored by just four points in the second quarter but were still down 61-40. Holland’s offensive dominance remained fiery throughout the rest of the game, leading 86-65 after quarter three and winning the game 109-82.
On Sunday, things were more or less the same, as the Hurricanes jumped ahead 23-10 in the first quarter, with, notably, fifth-year guard Bryce Corless (Quispamsis, N.B.) going 4-for-4 in field goals and 2-for-2 in three-pointers. Holland’s lead extended further to 37-25 at halftime, 65-48 after quarter three, and finished at 90-64, giving the team their fourth win in their last five games and their third win in four 2025 games.
Corless, who had many ups and downs in the first half of the regular season, kept up his reign of mayhem in 2025, recording 28 points, four three-pointers, 18 rebounds, five assists, five steals, and one block. He is now just 25 points back of first place in the conference in points, 218 compared to 243. Second-year forward Owen Parsons (Hebbville, N.S.) led the team over the weekend in points with 33 while also adding a 14-for-22 field-goal record, a 3-for-4 three-pointer record, nine rebounds, two assists, two steals, and two blocks.
The Hurricanes improved to 7-5 with their two crucial victories and are now, with 14 points, two points behind a second-place tie between UNBSJ and Crandall, while the Tommies dropped to 3-7 and extended their losing streak to five games; they hold firm in fifth with six points.
The men’s Hurricanes will join the women with a McMillan Centre doubleheader next weekend taking on the men’s Crandall University Chargers. The men’s Chargers are two points ahead of Holland and are coming off a tough doubleheader against UNBSJ this past weekend, which, with two losses, ended a five-game winning streak. It will be a must-see doubleheader for Hurricanes fans next weekend as both teams, in their previous game against each other, put on a match for the ages on Nov. 15, 2024 in Moncton, N.B., which Holland barely won 79-71.
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