Tigers drop Varsity Reds in back-to-back matches

HALIFAX – In AUS men’s volleyball action at Dalhousie this weekend the Tigers improved their record to 4-1 after dropping UNB 3-2 and 3-1.

The Varsity Reds opened up their Saturday match against the Tigers continuing the trend from Friday night with a back-and-forth set, with Dalhousie eventually taking the set 25-23.

UNB came out in the second set looking to avenge the first set loss, going into the first technical timeout of the second set up 8-3.

They kept the early momentum in the set going, with a big 25-18 win to tie up the match.

The Varsity Reds opened up the third set with a 5-0 lead and kept the five point lead into the first timeout at 8-3. Dalhousie began to battle back, eventually taking another tight set 25-23.

UNB head coach Dan McMorran was not happy with play of his players in giving up the lead.

“We were ok to just have that lead instead of continuing to put the foot on the gas pedal,” said McMorran.

The Tigers followed this up with strong play in the forth set, where the V-Reds defence struggled to contain the Dalhousie offense. The Tigers took the fourth set 25-20 to take the match 3-1.

The players of the match were Julio Fernandez for UNB and Dan Bremner for DAL.

After the game McMorran discussed what he believes were the biggest issues for his team on the court today.

“This weekend shows both Dal and UNB are struggling, to find consistency and just to find leadership on the floor sometimes,” he said. “We’re having consistency issues as well as some motivational issues at times. I think we’re at times playing a good level ball and then we seem to take personal timeouts while we’re out there. Mentally we’re not activated for an entire match right now.”

In their Friday night match UNB was ready to take on the top team in the AUS in front of a full gym at the Dalplex.

The Varsity Reds looked good in the first set and looked like they would surprise the Tigers by taking the set. Late in the set the dominate force in AUS men’s volleyball came back and defeated UNB 26-24 in a tight first set.

Going into the second set it was obvious this would be a tight match and the second set proved this again as the Varsity Reds took a tight second set 25-23.

UNB kept this momentum going, winning their second straight set 25-19 to take a 2-1 set lead. Unfortunately for the Varsity Reds, Dalhousie was not ready to give up yet.

The Tigers took the fourth set in the most convincing set win up to this point in the match, winning 25-18 to take the V-Reds into the fifth set.

The final set was a back and forth affair, until the Tigers took two straight points to win the match 3-2 with a 16-14 win in the fifth set.

After looking at both matches McMorran believes there is no team that is a clear-cut favourite between the two teams.

“When we take lapses one team is going to roll over the other team,” said McMorran. “There is no clear cut favourite here right now. If you look at the 3-2 and 3-1 ones you may think so, but if you’re sitting in the stands like you were you can see there was no clear cut favourite in the matches. It is what team is going to show at a particular portion of the game and unfortunately we were not there when we needed to be.”