Last Week:
After two weeks of training and a bye weekend January 21-23, UNB returned to the court travelling early Saturday morning to Moncton to play UdeM at 2:00pm. The V-Reds then travelled down the road to Wolfville, NS for a Sunday 1:00pm match at Acadia. It was the V-reds first conference game against Moncton this season after only seeing UdeM in exhibition play. UNB had narrowly defeated Acadia 3-2 in league play back on January 8th in Fredericton. Third-year libero and co-captain Monica Jones did not dress once again after suffering a knee injury against Acadia that same weekend. She remains out indefinitely.
UNB 3 @ MONCTON 0 (26-16, 25-18, 25-20)
Game Notes:
-UNB Player of the Game was fourth year middle Tanya Paulin who had 13 kills, hit .455% and scored 15 points.
-Fifth year left-sides Jill Blanchard and Erica Hay combined for 21 kills, 27 digs and 26 points.
-Second year right-side Emma Hunt may have played her best match of the season coming up with several timely defensive plays.
UNB 3 @ ACADIA 1 (20-25, 25-18, 26-24, 25-14)
Game Notes:
-UNB Player of the Game was second year middle Rebecca Glancy who hit .286% and was one of the V-Reds’ top servers and blockers.
-Fourth year middle Tanya Paulin had another solid effort with 15 points against a strong middle presence from Acadia.
-The V-Reds actually trailed 14-21 in game three before outscoring Acadia 12-3 to steal the set.
Other Conference Results:
Dalhousie 3 @ Acadia 2
Memorial 3 @ Cape Breton 1
Memorial 3 @ Cape Breton 1
Coach’s Comments:
“Against Moncton I thought our team had one of our top matches of the season thus far. It is always tough playing Moncton in Moncton and our team responded by digging a lot of good shots and our transition game was strong all afternoon. I thought at Acadia we ‘believed’ we could do it despite not executing real well at times. Coming back to steal that third game was the turning point and any time you can go 2-0 on the road you need to take it and run ... which we did. Looking forward to a good week of practice with lots of serve-receive to get ready for Moncton on Friday night. ”
UNB Team Record:
Conference Play vs. AUS 9 – 2
Conference Play vs. QC-INTERLOCK 0 – 4
Overall Conference Play 9 – 6 (2nd Place)
Non-CIS Exhibition Play 2 – 0
CIS Exhibition Play 6 – 4
Playoff Results 0 – 0
Overall Record 17 – 10
Upcoming:
UNB now has three remaining matches in conference play left and all three will be played at UNB. The Varsity Reds train until Thursday before hosting Moncton on Friday night, February 4th at 7:00pm. UNB will then get set to host two “Dig Pink” matches on February 12th(CBU @ 6:30pm) and 13th(STFX @ 2:00pm) as part of “Think Pink” week in support of Breast Cancer Research. The hockey team (“Pink in the Rink” Feb 9th), basketball teams (“Shoot for the Cure” Feb 11th-12th) as well as the men’s volleyball team (as they host Dalhousie) are also all involved.