Montreal Takes Five Set Victory
UNB pushes No. 7 Carabins to fifth set
(FREDERICTON, NB) The UNB Varsity Reds took the U SPORTS 7th ranked Universite de Montreal to a fifth set, but fell 3-2 to the Carabins in AUS-RSEQ interlock play, in Fredericton, on Friday.
Montreal opened the match with a 25-18 first set victory.
The Varsity Reds jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the second and pushed their lead to 16-10 at the technical time-out. UNB took the second set 25-20.
The home side went up 2-1 with a 25-19 third set victory. Ryan Colpitts(Fredericton, NB) served a pair of aces in the set and Pascal McCarthy(Fredericton, NB) had four of his 14 kills.
Montreal rallied in the fourth set, scoring a 25-18 win.
In an exciting fifth set, the two sides were tied at 12, 13, 14 and 15 before the Carabins scored the final two points of the match.
Godefroy Veyron-Trudel(Quebec City, QC) led the Carabins with 14 kills and 15 digs, while Youssef Baati(Montreal, QC) had 13 kills.
Mikael Dagenais(Montreal, QC) was named the Subway Player of the Match for Montreal.
Connor McConnell(Hanwell, NB) had a match-high 15 kills for UNB, while Kent Doucette(Tignish, PE) had 13 digs.
Brad Stewart(Wolfville, NS) was named the Subway Player of the Match for the Varsity Reds.
"We didn't execute early on in the game like we should have," said Stewart. "We weren't making the digs early on. We had to figure out our blocking, they blocked us extremely well early on in the game. That kind of had us down a bit."
Friday's match marked the first time this season that a team has taken the Carabins to a fifth set.
"That was our first five-setter of the year, so it was great to see the boys come back from down 2-1," said Dagenais. "We had a good fourth set and it was a great fifth set. UNB gave us a good match."
Despite being pushed, Dagenais feels the Carabins played well.
"We worked hard. It was really tight between the two teams the whole fifth set. We're really proud of how we came out."
"We made more errors than Montreal did down the stretch," said Varsity Reds head coach Dan McMorran.
Despite some troubles, McMorran saw some positives in the five-set match.
"That was a pretty entertaining match," he said. "They're a great team and I think they're deservedly the 7th ranked team in the country right now. I think we had our opportunity tonight and I know our guys are disappointed."
The AUS/RSEQ Interlock Tournament continues Saturday.
Montreal faces Dalhousie. First serve in that match is scheduled for 6:00pm.
The Varsity Reds take on Sherbrooke at 12:30pm, before facing the 8th ranked Laval Rouge et Or at 7:30pm.
RECAP BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics
PHOTOS BY: Kyle Lamkin/for UNB Athletics