Sackville, N.B.- A tiny school with a lot of pride, the Mounties out of Mount Allison made their presence known across the Atlantic university athletic landscape over the course of the 2019-2020 season.
Women’s Volleyball: Pride on Home Court
It was an impressive season for the Mounties, capped off by a silver medal at the ACAA Championships. The New Brunswick school earned a 13-5 record over the course of the regular season, going 7-2 at home and 6-3 away. While they were clearly comfortable on any court, it seemed fitting that they would get to fight for the title in their home gym.
Mount Allison were the hosts for this season’s ACAA tournament and used the home court advantage early, grabbing a first set win 25-18, the largest point differential of the day. Holland College did not shy away from the challenge of a comeback win as they took the next three sets, albeit they had to fight harder than they did throughout the course of their 18-0 season. Each set was closer than the last, with the second going the way of the Hurricanes 25-22. The home team had a lead late in the third set, but the visitors dug in and grinded out a 25-23 win. What would be the final set came nail-bitingly close as the Mounties managed to fight off two match points by their opponent, eventually falling 26-24.
This year marked Mount Allison’s first appearance in the ACAA Championships in 11 years, back when they won the banner. While they may not have been able to recreate that run, the ladies certainly did their school and home fans proud by making the tournament favourites fight as hard as they did to end up on top. They have also set the tone to return to the big game sooner rather than later.
Men’s Football: Just Not Hot Enough
Things seemed to be going in the perfect direction for Mounties football as they got on a three-game win streak right before the playoffs kicked off. Within that streak they had handedly beaten eventual semi-final opponent Bishop’s University by a score of 35-13. They may have finished the season at 3-5, but it was good enough for a playoff berth, and they looked to be getting hot at the right time.
The New Brunswick school travelled to Sherbrooke for the AUS semi-final. After a delay due to flooding, the Gaiter had a second chance to take down the Mounties. At halftime, it looked like Bishop’s would have no problem exacting their revenge, as they took a 19-0 lead to the locker room. The Mounties had appeared to have left the team that last faced the Gaiters in New Brunswick…
Mount Allison may not be the biggest of the schools, but their teams have some of the best fans in the country. While it’s not athletic, so can’t be awarded one of their top moments of the year, the Mounties’ fans pulled together in the spring to make #MountiePride the fourth best hashtag in all of U SPORTS from 49’s Twitter vote.