Sherbrooke Hand REDS 3-1 Loss
(FREDERICTON, NB) The Université de Sherbrooke Vert et Or beat the UNB REDS 3-1 in RSEQ play on Saturday night.
Sherbrooke won with scores of 23-25, 25-23, 25-13 and 25-15.
The first set began in back-and-forth fashion, with both teams trading points to 10-10.
Mid set, the REDS broke that pattern, going up 14-12, prompting an early Sherbrooke time-out.
The REDS took a 16-12 lead into the technical timeout of the first set.
A big block by Yoan David (Sherbrooke, QC) brought the visitors back to within one, at 17-16.
UNB went up 24-20 on a Brad Stewart (Wolfville, NS) block, but the REDS had to fight off a stubborn Sherbrooke side to win the first set 25-23.
The REDS rode the momentum of their first set victory into the second, racing out to a 6-2 lead and forcing another Sherbrooke time-out.
The REDS pushed that lead to 9-2 before the Vert et Or could respond, then went up 12-4.
The visitors would rally to 13-9, but the REDS took a 16-10 lead into the set's technical time-out.
Out of the break, the Vert et Or used some strong play at the net to climb to within four, but a Nick Glynn (Fredericton, NB) block and a Brad Merryweather (New Maryland, NB) ace pushed the REDS in front 19-13.
Sherbrooke closed the gap to 23-21 prompting REDS head coach Dan McMorran to call time-out.
A UNB attack error evened the score 23-23, and McMorran took a second time-out.
Sherbrooke scored the next two points to win the second set 25-23 and even the game at a set apiece.
"They hit a few points in a row and things just started to collapse," said Stewart. "They started to pass well and once we saw them doing well, we just kind of got down on ourselves and couldn't execute when we needed to."
In the third, it was Sherbrooke that rode momentum, building a 9-3 lead and extending that to 15-6. The Vert et Or led 16-6 at the technical time-out.
Substitutions seemed to spark the REDS, who scored three of the next four points, to close the gap to 17-9, but UNB couldn't hold on and Sherbrooke won the third set 25-13.
"Almost everything was going well on our side and we were putting a lot of pressure on them and I think we did well on keeping the pressure on them for the rest of the game," said David.
The fourth set saw Sherbrooke continue to dominate, pushing out to a 9-4 lead.
Sherbrooke led 16-10 at the technical time-out and had little trouble winning the set 25-15 to take the game 3-1.
"In the first set, they took us by surprise," said David. "They played a bit differently than what we expected and it hurt our confidence. The second set didn't go well in the beginning and we just started to focus more on ourselves. Things just kept going better and better, and all the intensity and the quality of our actions were getting better."
David recorded a game-high 23 kills for Sherbrooke. Zachary Hollands (St-Christophe d'Arthabaska, QC) added 21 kills and 12 digs, and Jonathan Portelance (Sherbrooke, QC) recorded a game-high 56 serve assists.
Eduardo Luchese (Rio Grande du Sul, BRA) led the REDS with 16 kills, while Scott Mann recorded a team-high seven digs.
"We were up 23-20 in the second and couldn't score another two points to finish it," said Stewart. "It's a hard mental battle, when you think you have the second set in the bag and then you're pretty down on yourself for the next one. We didn't execute down the stretch, when we needed to, at key times."
With the loss, the REDS are now 1-and-6, while the Vert et Or improve to 2-and-2.
The two teams will wrap-up their weekend series on Sunday, at UNB's Currie Center.
First serve is scheduled for 1:00pm.
RECAP BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics
PHOTOS BY: James West/for UNB Athletics