V-Reds out to defend men's volleyball title

AUS championship | In Halifax Friday, home on Sunday

The University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds men's volleyball team sets out this weekend to prove their 2011 Atlantic University Sport championship was no fluke.

The defending champions travel to Halifax Friday for game one of the best-of-three finals against the firstplace Dalhousie Tigers, who were dethroned last season after 24 consecutive league titles.

'That's why I was brought in here eight years ago,' said V- Reds' head coach Dan McMorran, who came to UNB after coaching the men's program at St. Thomas University. 'It was to change that cycle, and I think we're making good strides.' The Reds took down the Tigers 3-2 in consecutive games in 2011 to take the league banner, after finishing two points ahead of Dalhousie in the three-team league standings.

It's Dalhousie that will assume home-court advantage this time around, having finished two points ahead of the V-Reds in regular season play.

Game two will be in Fredericton at the Currie Centre Sunday.

Game three, if necessary, will go back in Halifax.

McMorran, who suited up with the Reds back in the late 1980's and early 90's, said he expects the Tigers will be hungry to avenge last year's defeat.

But the Varsity Reds have something to prove, too.

'Last year definitely wasn't a fluke,' he said. 'You're looking at a Dalhousie team that has a lot of confidence coming into this weekend, and a Varsity Reds team that wants to prove that (last year) wasn't a onetime deal.' The Reds went 1-3 against Dal this season, dropping 3-1 and 3-2 matches on the road, while trumping the Tigers once (3-1) and losing to them once (3-0) at home.

McMorran is expecting a big series out V-Reds players John Sheehan and Julio Fernandez, who were among the AUS leaders in hitting percentage, kills, blocks and points this season.

Fernandez, a junior, topped the AUS in average points per game (4.76) and kills (256).

On the other side of the court, the Tigers will look to seniors Kenneth Rauwerda and Graeme Higgins to bring them back to glory, McMorran said.

'Dal is coming into the championship with a bit of tradition on their side,' he said. 'We're a program that's trying to find that tradition. We won last year, we're trying to make that a regular thing. Most years, (Dal) is a top-five ranked team in the county. Playing them, that's made our program better.' McMorran said his squad played two of its weakest matches in their losses to Dalhousie last weekend, which had him toying with several versions of a starting lineup.

'I thought they played extremely well, they had fantastic defence. I thought we may have had our two weakest matches of the season, we didn't play particularly well either day. When we did play well, the results went in our favour.' The losses cost the Reds home court advantage, if such a thing exists .

'If it goes to a third game, it would be nice to play that at home in your own building,' he said. 'But championships are won all the time in other barns. We're at the point that we've played enough games at Dal. We have a fantastic following of fans that support us at the Currie Center and a number of fans that have travelled to Dal to support us there.'