V-Reds volleyballers load up for another run

John Richard is anxious to take the wraps off his University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds women's volleyball team.

He thinks he finally might be able to do it at the UNB Invitational this weekend.

Richard and his V-Reds - or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof - host four other Atlantic University Sport squads in the tournament, which runs from Friday to Sunday at the UNB Main Gym. For the first time this season, he expects to have everyone healthy and available to play. The medical wraps are off.

Tanya Paulin (Bathurst, NB), the fourth-year middle player from Bathurst, a two-time AUS all-star, has been sidelined since off-season surgery to remove a blood clot from the area between her clavicle and her rib. The surgery involved removing two-thirds of her top rib on the left side. Paulin played her first match of the season against Royal Military College of Kingston, Ont., here last week, playing just one of the three games.

"We're a lot different with her," said Richard. "She played one game and kind of tried it out and she was fine. And we looked pretty good. So I think she'll be good to go."

Also returning - from a couple of years away, and then a knee problem - was veteran left-side hitter Erica Hay (Sussex, NB). She figures to be at full capacity this weekend, and therefore, so do the V-Reds.

The early season injuries demonstrated the depth and the quality of the UNB roster though. It's muscle Richard hopes to flex in the direction of his AUS opponents this weekend.

The V-Reds are on the floor Friday at 1 p.m. against Cape Breton and at 7 p.m. against St. Francis Xavier. Saturday, they play UdeM at 1 p.m. and Acadia at 7 p.m. The first-place team at the completion of the five-team round robin earns a bye into Sunday's 2 p.m. final. Second- and third-place finishers play off in the semifinal at 10 a.m.

UNB has won this tournament seven straight years, compiling a record of 34-1 in the process.

"But we're going to have to play pretty well to keep that up," Richard said.

After finishing first, first and second in the AUS standings the previous three years, the V-Reds slipped a bit last season, falling to fourth place with a 9-9 record.

But Richard believes they're in a position to challenge for top spot again, with the addition of four solid players - including the return of Hay, the two-time AUS all-star who left a nursing position at the Chalmers Hospital to come back and complete her education degree.

It was the kind of good news Richard needed after Paulin called the day before "with an arm the size of a bodybuilder's" due to a blood clot.

Amanda Bakker (Winnipeg, MB), a six-foot left-handed setter who was a starter at the University of Winnipeg in her freshman season before deciding to transfer - she visited Saint Mary's, the University of Missouri, Memphis and UNB before deciding to make the switch here at the urging of fellow Winnipeger Megan Dudeck (Winnipeg, MB) - sat out the required year last year, worked out with the team and is now good to go.

"She needed touches...she hadn't played competitive volleyball in a year and a half until we got going," said Richard. "But she's been getting better. She's a really good leader and a good quarterback out there for us."

Fredericton's Celina Abba (Fredericton, NB) has been a starter in every match so far this season, and "I can see that trend continuing," Richard said. "She was probably the best Grade 12 player in Atlantic Canada last year."

The other newcomer is Taylor MacDonald (Bathurst, NB) of Bathurst, here on the prestigious President's Scholarship academic award. She's a five-foot-11 rookie, the heir apparent to Hay on the left side. She provided a tantalizing glimpse of what's to come by earning player of the match for UNB at the Dal tournament in two of the four matches in which she played.

"We thought she might be nine or 10 on our depth chart, but she's knocking on the door," Richard said.

And of course, there's still Jill Blanchard, suddenly in her fifth year on campus and rejuvenated after a low-key summer where she played only sporadically on the beach, and team captain Rebecca Glancy (Toronto, ON), a second-year stud who was recruited by 18 schools after a glittering club career in Ontario, where her club team won national club championships five years running.

Third-year libero Monica Jones (Ajax, ON), a team captain, also plays a key role.

"I think the best team we've had in the 13 years I've been here was two years ago, when we lost in the final to Moncton," Richard said. "I would compare this team to that one. We had a stretch prior to last year where we finished first, first and second, and I would stack this team up against any one of those three.

"We have depth, we can score, we have a real good quarterback in Amanda Bakker. We need to get the ball to our setter...we didn't pass very well in the last couple of weeks. But if we can do that....we can pass, we can score, we can block, we serve pretty tough. Our first contact needs to be better than it has in the last couple of weeks, and I think it can be."

Richard expects a competitive conference.

"You've got to play every night," he said. "If we play, I think we have a chance to win every night. It doesn't mean we will. But we dictate a lot of what happens on our side of the net. If we play well and compete at the level we have a chance to compete at, we have a chance to win every night."