New recruits add depth to returning roster

The women’s volleyball team will kick off an intense preseason schedule in preparation for the regular season this weekend.

The Varsity Reds will make the trip to Brunswick, Maine this weekend for their normal team-bonding weekend of the year. What normally does not involve matches will be built around a Saturday night match against Bowdoin College.

Coach John Richard is looking forward to the team’s first weekend together, as it is always the first event for the team each season.

“Traditionally we do a team bonding or team retreat exercise on that weekend of the season,” said Richard. “We decided to go to Maine and combine it with a match against Bowdoin College. The team is looking forward to getting on the court against some competition and it should be a good test to see where they are.”

The Reds will be short one significant player when they begin their preseason as middle player Barb Vriends has graduated from the program. The impact play of the AUS second team all-star and league leader in blocks will be missed, but with four new recruits the V-Reds will be in good shape.

Joining the team as rookies this season will be Bathurst native Taylor MacDonald and Fredericton’s Celina Abba. Richard is excited to have these athletes as the future stars of the program.

“Taylor is an exceptional student athlete in every definition of the word. She is an extremely strong student and a great athlete,” he said. “Celina comes to us as the top grade 12 player in NB and will make an immediate impact. Both are a little deep in our depth chart right now, but that has more to do with the fact we have a lot of older girls returning.”

Coming into the program as experienced athletes this season are former V-Red Erica Hay and transfer student from University of Winnipeg Amanda Bakker. Hay returns to UNB for the one-year Bachelor of Education program in her fifth year of eligibility. The coaching staff was shocked to have a quality player join the program so late in year.

“Picking up someone like Erica, especially at such a late date, does say a lot for our program,” said Richard. “On top of being very athletic, talented and proven within our conference, she plays the game with so much passion and emotion it is contagious. We liked our group before and now she makes it even better.”

The Reds most significant addition this season is Bakker. After coming to UNB last season for the winter semester, she was forced to sit out until this season. Richard knows she has been training hard in preparation for this season.

“Amanda is probably the most significant addition we added,” he said. “Her first year she started for the U of W, then last season she sat out and trained once she arrived here. As a setter, she will make us a different team, but in a good way. Her stepping in and running the offence for us will raise our teams playing level up a notch.”

Welcoming these four new athletes to the program, the Reds have one of the deepest rosters in recent years.

“We are as deep as our team in 2008-2009 that lost in the AUS final to Moncton,” said Coach Richard. “A lot of things have to go your way and you have to stay healthy, but starting out in September I would compare our team on paper to that year.”

After their preseason kicks off this weekend, the Varsity Reds have a tough exhibition schedule. They will travel to DAL Sept. 25-26 where they will see StFX, DAL, SMU and Acadia. They will follow that tournament with a match Oct. 8 at home against Royal Military College of Canada and the UNB Invitational Oct. 15-17.

“This season’s exhibition schedule was planned out to get us the most prepared we can be for the regular season,” said Richard. “Having a chance to see all the teams in the AUS conference aside from MUN should give us a good idea where the team stands and what we have to do to succeed this year.”