2009-10 UNB Women's Volleyball Update # 14 - Final Regular Season Matches
Last Week:
The V-Reds trained all week before heading back out onto the road early Saturday morning for their final two matches of the regular season. Saturday they will drove to Truro, NS and rested for a few hours before going on to Wolfville, NS to take on Acadia at 7:00pm. The team then drove back as far as Truro, NS (making it a very long day) to sleep for the night. Early Sunday morning they departed Truro, NS for Moncton, NB to play Moncton at 2:00pm.
UNB 1 @ ACADIA 3 (10-25, 8-25, 25-22, 13-25)
With the exception of a brief sequence in the third set, the Varsity Reds were never in the match passing a season low 1.48 leading to a team hitting percentage .078% against an aggressive scrappy Acadia squad. All eleven players saw floor time for UNB with second year right-side Amber Gamblin (Fredericton, NB) coming up with 9 kills while fourth year left-side Jill Blanchard (Saint John, NB) had 10 kills and 19 digs.
UNB 0 @ MONCTON 3 (23-25, 16-25, 21-25)
After Moncton jumped out to an early lead, the V-Reds took a lead late going up 21-19 and 22-20 before Moncton rallied to take game one 25-23. From that point on Moncton led most of the way winning 3-0 behind a balanced attack. Rookie Emma Hunt (Whitby, ON) rebounded from Saturday night’s performance to have 10 kills while hitting .350%. Third year middle Tanya Paulin (Bathurst, NB) had 7 kills, hit .385% and scored 11 points.
Other Conference Results:
STFX 3 @ Saint Mary’s 1
Cape Breton 2 @ Dalhousie 3
Cape Breton 0 @ Saint Mary’s 3
Dalhousie 1 @ Acadia 3
Coach’s Comments:
“We didn’t even get off the bus at Acadia which was puzzling as we had a good week of practice and our prep on Saturday seemed real strong. One of those nights where we couldn’t do anything right no matter what we tried and full credit to them - they didn’t do much wrong. The writing was kind of on the wall after the Acadia match in terms of playoff rankings, so we all lacked some emotion on Sunday despite the fact our execution was better than Saturday night. I think if we pull out that first set we may see a different outcome, regardless of that though ... Moncton played inspired and deserved to win the match.”
UNB Team Record:
League 9 - 9
Exhibition 12 - 2
Playoffs 0 - 0
Overall 21 - 11
Upcoming:
The V-Reds will take Monday off before training Tuesday, Wednesday and early Thursday morning this week. Thursday afternoon the team will travel to Halifax, NS to prepare for the Atlantic Conference Championships being hosted by Saint Mary’s from February 19th-21st. UNB (4th, 9-9 = 18 pts) will play Cape Breton (5th, 6-12 = 12 pts) on Friday at 8:00pm in the late quarter-final. Acadia (3rd, 10-8 = 20 pts) will play Dalhousie (6th, 6-12 = 12 pts). STFX (1st, 11-7 = 22 pts) and Saint Mary’s (2nd, 11-7 = 22 pts) earn first round byes. Last year (2008-09) the Varsity Reds lost a tight 3-1 championship match to Moncton to finish 2nd while in 2007-08 UNB edged Saint Mary’s 3-2 for the Championship Title.