Tough go for UNBers at national volleyball

Both University of New Brunswick volleyball teams finished with disappointing 0-2 records at their respective Canadian Interuniversity Sport volleyball championships.

At Trinity Western University in Langley, B.C., the seventh-seeded UNB men lost 3-1 to the No. 6 McMaster Marauders of Hamilton, Ont., in Saturday's consolation semifinal. Set scores were 25-22, 23-25, 25-16, 25-16.

Kevin Stevens had 14 kills and 12 digs for the Marauders while Tyson Alexander added a dozen kills.

Julio Fernandez countered with 11 kills and eight digs for the Varsity-Reds, who lost 3-0 to Laval on Friday. Jacob Kilpatrick chipped in with eight kills, three aces and five blocks. John Sheehan and Tyler Veenhuis each had six kills.

"We came out a little bit better today," UNB head coach Dan McMorran said. "In the first couple of sets, we decided to wait a little bit until they had 16-12 and 17-11 leads, even in the set we won, before we realized a sense of urgency. It was a better performance. It still wasn't the execution we wanted today but the guys came out better."

The opening set saw McMaster race out to a 5-0 lead and set the tone for the rest of the set. UNB battled hard but lost 25-23.

In the second set, the game was dictated by McMaster in the early going. But trailing 22-17, the V-Reds finally got rolling. With Kilpatrick leading the charge from the serving line, UNB went on a game-turning run that saw them score eight of the next nine points to take the set 25-23.

"We went on a nice 8-1 run," McMorran said. "We served a little tougher. We made a couple of exceptional plays defensively and our block, which has been one of our strengths all season, was finally getting into some synchronicity there so we were able battle and win a close one." With momentum back on their side, the V-Reds looked primed to build upon their second set rally. UNB quickly took a 3-1 lead in the third set, but their advantage was short-lived.

The Marauders tied it up with two straight points and, like the first two sets, once again took the lead by the first technical timeout. McMaster went on to win 25-16.

The fourth set was a mirror image of the third as McMaster took a lead early and quickly pushed the game out of reach.

At Laval University, the No. 6 UNB women - 3-1 losers with set scores being 27-25, 23-25, 25-15 and 25-17 to host Laval in quarter-final play Friday - lost 3-0 to No. 7 Western Ontario Mustangs of London, Ont., in Saturday's consolation semifinal.

Set scores were 25-23, 25-21, 25-22.

Elaine Screaton led Western with 11 kills and a dozen digs while Sarah Johnston added 10 kills and seven digs.

Tanya Paulin and Erica Hay had 10 and nine kills, respectively, for the V-Reds. Jill Blanchard had six kills and four digs. Paulin added 3.5 blocks and was chosen UNB's player of the match.

UNB gave the Mustangs a hard time early, taking the lead 16-11 at the second technical timeout. Still ahead 20-15, the Reds quietly let it slip until the score was tied at 22. The Mustangs took the following point and went on to take the set 25-23.

In the second set, the Mustangs held a slim lead all the way through to finally take a 2-0 advantage with a 25-21 win.

The V-Reds tried to bounce back in the third by taking control of the set 10-7. But just like they did in the first, the Mustangs closed the gap and tied the game 22-22, before taking the next three points to put an end to the match.

Blanchard was UNB's player of the match Friday with 15 kills and 17 points. Rebecca Glancy had 10 points and third year libero Monica Jones had 13 digs. The tone of the match was set in the very first set when Laval jumped out to leads of 11-2 and 15-5 before UNB rallied, actually taking a 22-21 lead, before eventually losing 27-25. They never really recovered from that.

"It's frustrating," UNB coach John Richard said. "It's the third time in four years that we made it here and every time it's an Ontario team that beats us on the second day, so it's a little tough. I just didn't think we were disciplined enough defensively. We got tight in every set and had our chances, but defensively we weren't very good. It was the difference for sure."

He said the short time frame between Friday's late match and Saturday's consolation game might have also been a factor in UNB's showing against Western. "We had our chances in every set, but it came down to execution and we just lacked some discipline especially defensively in each set,'' he said.

He said the team was nervous in the early going against Laval in front of a packed gym, "but I thought we responded very well and played some of our best volleyball of the season during the last part of the first set and for the next hour or so,'' he said.

"Our ball control broke down late in the match and they ran away with it. I thought Jill had a great effort as did Monica and Rebecca. It was a tough but enjoyable environment to play in, one we won't forget for a long time.''

University of British Columbia Thunderbirds went on to sweep Laval 3-0 Sunday to win their fourth straight national women's title and eighth overall.