Last Week:
The Varsity Reds trained all week before departing with the men’s volleyball team early Friday morning for two tough road games at Dalhousie on Friday at 6:00pm (doubleheader with men’s team at 8:00pm) and on Saturday at 2:00pm against Saint Mary’s. The Tigers are coming off two great road wins last weekend against STFX and CBU, while the Huskies split matches at Memorial two weeks ago (and had last weekend off). The V-Reds are without 2009-10 AUS 1st Team All-Star Tanya Paulin (Bathurst, NB). The 4th year middle left midway through the STFX match on October 24th and hasn’t practiced since. Complications from her August surgery continue to be challenging forcing her to be out until after Christmas.
UNB 3 @ DAL 1 (22-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-17)
Game Notes:
-5th year left-side Jill Blanchard (Saint John, NB) was UNB’s Player of the Match with a match high 19 kills and adding 14 digs.
-2nd year right-side Emma Hunt (Whitby, ON) had 8 kills and hit an impressive .412% while 2nd year middle Rebecca Glancy (Toronto, ON) had 7 kills and hit an impressive .364%.
-The V-Reds trailed in game one 6-14 but came all the way back to tie things at 22-22 before eventually dropping the game 22-25.
UNB 3 @ SMU 2 (21-25, 13-25, 25-23, 25-23, 15-12)
Game Notes:
-5th year left-sides Jill Blanchard (with 14 kills and 12 digs) and Erica Hay (Sussex, NB) (with 12 kills and 16 points), both recovered from slow starts to lead UNB.
-2nd year middle Rebecca Glancy had another strong effort with 12 kills and 16 points, while 2nd year setter Amanda Bakker (Winnipeg, MB) had 40 assists.
-3rd year libero Monica Jones (Ajax, ON) has another solid day with 25 digs.
Coach’s Comments:
“I thought with the exception of the first 10 minutes or so on Friday night we put together a really good effort. Our blocking wasn’t very strong, however our serving was ... which compensated somewhat. I thought Emma Hunt was a real spark for our team and scored some big points at critical times. On Saturday I didn’t think we played as well but did just enough to steal it. We got more diverse and started playing some defence as the match progressed. Obviously I’m really happy with these two road wins and real proud of our group.”
UNB Team Record:
Conference Play 5 – 1
Non-CIS Exhibition Play 1 – 0
CIS Exhibition Play 6 – 4
Playoff Results 0 – 0
Overall Record 12 – 5
Upcoming:
The Varsity Reds will train Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before they depart Thursday morning for Sherbrooke, QC to take part in their Interlock Tournament. St. FX(2-2), Dalhousie(1-3), Cape Breton(1-3) and Acadia(0-4) already competed in their Interlock event against the Quebec teams at Laval last month. Those schools went a combined 4-12 against Laval (CIS #1), Montreal (CIS #5), McGill and Sherbrooke. Memorial, Moncton, Saint Mary’s and the Varsity Reds will look to add to that win total. In 2009-10 the AUS school went a combined 1-31 in the two events. UNB plays Friday against #1 Laval at 2:00pm EST and Sherbrooke at 8:00pm EST. On Saturday they play #5 Montreal at 4:00pm EST and Sunday play McGill at 11:00am EST. These mark the last matches before Christmas for UNB as the V-Reds will host Acadia and Saint Mary’s on January 8th-9th at UNB as the men’s team host Memorial that same weekend. After playing 8 of 10 conference games on the road during first term, the Varsity Reds will play 8 conference games in the second half, six of which will be in Fredericton.