Last Week:
UNB trained Tuesday and Wednesday before departing early Thursday for the long bus trip to Sydney, NS. Cape Breton University hosted the event kicking things off with the Awards Banquet Thursday evening. UNB’s Jill Blanchard was named a 1st Team All-Star, Erica Hay a 2nd Team Conference All-Star and rookie Celina Abba was named to the AUS All-Rookie Team. The V-Reds trained and prepared Friday and Saturday before taking to the court Saturday evening at 7:00pm for their semi-final.
Quarter-final: Dalhousie (3rd) 3 vs. Cape Breton (Host) 2
Quarter-final: St FX (4th) 3 vs. Moncton (5th) 1
Semifinal: Saint Mary’s (1st) 3 vs. St FX (Lowest Remaining Seed) 0
DALHOUSIE 1 @ UNB 3 (25-15, 16-25, 25-12, 25-14) – AUS SEMI-FINAL
Game Notes:
-UNB Player of the Match was fourth year middle Tanya Paulin with 15 points while hitting .333%.
-Second year right-side Emma Hunt had a career day with 11 kills on 14 swings to hit an amazing .714%.
-With the win on Saturday evening the V-Reds secured a place in Sunday’s Championship Final for the third time in the past four year.
SAINT MARY’S 0 @ UNB 3 (25-9, 25-22, 25-15) – AUS FINAL
Game Notes:
-UNB Player of the Match was second year setter Amanda Bakker with 25 assists while second years Emma Hunt and Rebecca Glancy had solid efforts.
-Fifth year left-sides Jill Blanchard and Erica Hay combined for 15 kills, 5 aces and 19 digs.
-With the win the V-Reds capture their 2nd Atlantic Championship in 4 years and league leading 19 AUS Women’s Volleyball banner.
-Jill Blanchard was named Tournament MVP.
-Tanya Paulin was named a Tournament All-Star.
Coach’s Comments:
“I thought we passed, served and blocked well against Dalhousie on Saturday night. Emma was unreal on both sides of the ball in the front row and I liked our middle presence all evening long. We were able to keep pressure on whoever was on the floor on the other side which led to having some significant leads. On Sunday we believed we could win that match and our girls executed real well all afternoon. As we did against Dalhousie we had contributions from all our line-up and jumped out early and kept the pressure on. Bakker, Blanchard, Paulin and so on were real solid and we just focussed on playing each point ... staying in the moment. I thought that was the key to the weekend ... real prepared, stayed focussed on our performance and we let the outcome be a surprise.”
UNB Team Record:
Conference Play vs. AUS 11 – 3
Conference Play vs. QC-INTERLOCK 0 – 4
Overall Conference Play 11 – 7 (2nd Place)
Non-CIS Exhibition Play 2 – 0
CIS Exhibition Play 6 – 4
Playoff Results 2 – 0
Overall Record 21 – 11
Upcoming:
After the emotional weekend and the long drive home, UNB will now take a few days off before starting to train and prepare for the CIS Nationals at Laval in Quebec City from March 4th-6th. The team will depart Fredericton early on Wednesday, March 2nd for the bus drive to Quebec for the CIS All-Canadian Awards Banquet that evening. Practices go on Thursday, March 3rd with quarter-finals taking place on Friday, semi-finals are Saturday and finals Sunday. The V-Reds will learn their draw by next Sunday (February 27th).