Aigles Bleus shock hometown Reds in pivotal match

The upset knocked the 9-7 Reds out of the second spot and, essentially, out of the running for first overall. They now sit third in a logjam for the second first-round bye.

Head coach John Richard was displeased with his club’s performance and is worried more about issues on the court rather than seeding.

“I’m not really concerned about the bye right now,” said Richard. “I’m concerned about our level of play.”

The first set was a back and forth affair that saw five lead changes before the Moncton stole it. The visiting squad opened up a five-point lead until the Reds mounted a comeback, cutting the lead to a single point to be down 22-21. However, that’s as close as they would get as Moncton held on to take the first frame 25-23.

Moncton’s strong net presence was evident all through the match and especially in the second set. The bigger and stronger Reds were denied several times by their opponent’s strong defensive play and were lacking in that area themselves as Moncton recorded an uncharacteristic amount of kills.

The modest crowd was treated to an exciting second set that saw the match all squared off at 16, 17, 18, 20, 22 and 23 points apiece. However, Moncton’s strong play at the net took over and with one final crushing blow from Joline Richard, the Aigles Bleus dropped the Reds 25-23.

The two-headed attack of Moncton’s Richard and Crissy Roy combined for 23 kills. They weren’t to be outdone defensively either as they out-blocked UNB 10-6 in total team blocks.

Uncharacteristic errors from UNB veterans were also playing a key part in Moncton’s success until the third set when the usual suspects took over. Concerted efforts from Jill Blanchard (Saint John, NB) and Rebecca Glancy (Toronto, ON) quickly opened up a 20-13 lead and the hometown squad didn’t look back. UNB coasted to the 25-17 third set victory.

The Reds’ momentum was short-lived as Moncton quickly jumped out to a 6-2 lead. UNB tried to muster up a comeback, but the onslaught of pressure at the net was too much and Moncton ran away with the set. Unforced errors coupled with strong defensive play from the UdeM squad lead to a 25-14 thrashing to end the match.

The UNB coach noted that over-confidence could have played a part after defeating Moncton 3-0 on the road only a week ago.

“Our best players weren’t very good,” said Richard. “I had a bad feeling in the warm-up and I had a bad feeling in the room before the match thinking that we were taking them for granted. They’ve elevated their game, but we weren’t very good.”

The V-Reds’ serve receiving was not up to par either and Richard said it was the catalyst for the upset.

“It’s all fed off first contact and ours wasn’t very good. They’re a ball-control kind of team over there and if you’re in a situation where you’re struggling off first contact and we can’t get the ball up tight to net where our big hitters can use their aggressiveness, it’s tough. It’s the story of the whole match.”

Veteran Erica Hay (Sussex, NB) was disappointed in her team’s intensity level and preparedness as they entered the pivotal match, levels that didn’t match Moncton’s.

“They’ve always been an intense team and sometimes that carries you along. It’s not always the bigger team that wins. We’ve just got to be ready for the scrappiness and we weren’t on our toes.”

Hay, UNB’s player of the game, tallied 12 kills, seven digs, two service aces and one block in the losing effort. She feels the team needs to up the practice level in order to work out a number of on-court issues.

“We’ve missed more serves than I think we’ve ever missed before. We worked on passing all week in practice and our coach added it up and we had multiple zeroes and ones. Against a team like this we’ve got to be able to use our middle, but we weren’t able to do that with our poor passing.”

The Reds might run into some good fortune as Richard is hopeful to see Monica Jones (Ajax, ON) return to the lineup next match during the Think Pink Weekend as Cape Breton and StFX visit in the final two matches of the regular season.