UNB is one win away from stopping the Tigers consecutive AUS Championship streak at 24.
by Christopher Cameron
After sweeping Dalhousie at home last weekend to grab home court advantage, the UNB Varsity Reds faced a completely different team last night.
The first set was indicative of this as both teams were back and forth with the team’s being tied 12 times throughout the set, with UNB edging out Dal for a 26-24 win.
In the second set it was a completely different story as Dalhousie showed why they have won the last 24 AUS men’s volleyball titles, not giving UNB any lead in the set, winning it 25-21 after the Varsity Reds made a late push to close the gap.
Another set went to Dal as UNB continued to struggle to regain momentum, dropping the third set 25-22.
The pit was packed, but after the crowd helped push UNB over the edge in the first set, the approximately 1000 fans were silent after watching their team fall two straight sets. After the match Varsity Reds head coach Dan McMorran said that just cause his team has home court advantage they cannot rely on the fans to win a match for them.
“If you look at the second and third sets, we came back to within one a couple times in each of those sets, getting the crowd somewhat back into it,” said McMorran. “Sure it helps and it’s nice, but then again we let the pressure off. We took our foot off the gas again making unforced errors and Dal came back and jumped all over it.”
The Varsity Reds were able to pull out the set. Although they got down early, they bounced back tying it up 16-16 midway through the set. The team’s traded points until at 19-19 UNB opened up at three point lead and never looked back winning 25-20 and pushing the match to a fifth set.
The Tigers opened the final set with the first point followed by UNB grabbing three straight to lead 3-1 early. After Dal bounced back with a point of their own, the Varsity Reds went on another tear and going into the switch were up 8-5.
A comeback from Dal made for an exciting finish as they closed the gap, eventually tying the match at 12-12 on a service ace by Max Burt. UNB then shut down what momentum the Tigers had, scoring the next three points to win 15-12 and take game one of the best of three.
Looking at the match McMorran discussed how his team was lucky to get out of the day with the win after some not so stellar play.
“We have to play better ball all the way around,” he said. “Like you mentioned, Julio didn’t serve like he did the other day, he got some big kills for us down the stretch, but we as a team did not perform like we did last weekend.”
Winning on the road will be no easy task, but he knows his squad can do it.
“We’ve been there before. Three years ago we went down there and won the first match of the AUS playoffs in Halifax,” said McMorran. “I think our guys know we need to lay it all out on the line. It’s not guaranteed we’re going to win down there. There’s no Cinderella story here, just cause people think it’s our year.”
“It’s not our year unless we prove it on the court.”
Christopher Cameron is the sports editor for The Brunswickan student newspaper in Fredericton. Follow him on twitter @ccam1988.
