0-7 | Reigning champs struggle out of the gate
Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
Two blatant defensive collapses cost the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds women's volleyball team a pair matches this weekend to the Saint Mary's Huskies and Acadia Axewomen in Atlantic University Sport Women's Volleyball Conference.
The queens of the Atlantic University Sport conference have been punted down the league table after opening the season with seven consecutive losses.
The defending champions, however, are too preoccupied to even consider another title run. Their main focus at the moment is finding that first victory, something head coach John Richard knows could have been- even should have been this weekend.
"(The win) is going to probably be ugly, and I thought tonight might have been the one," said Richard after Saturday's loss at the Richard J. Currie Center.
"We're not going to walk in and win 3-0 easy and someone is going to hand something to us. We're going to have to work for it."
After taking a 2-1 set lead over Acadia on Saturday, the Reds' momentum vanished when the Axewomen took advantage of disorganized UNB defence, going on a 12-2 run to clinch the fourth set by 14 points and force a fifth.
"A couple of things fell apart," said third-year Emma Hunt. "At times communication on serve receives wasn't there and that's what we needed."
Acadia opened with an 8-1 run before the Reds built up an attack in the final set, but it was too late. The visitors cruised a 15-7 victory to take the match (27-25, 19-25, 18-25, 25-11. 15-7).
The continual lack of execution and inconsistency from the Reds crippled their hopes again. At a crucial moment in the first set, UNB (0-7) failed to capitalize on a game-point opportunity when leading 25-24, which allowed Acadia (2-5) to steal the set 27-25.
"We had a game point in the first set and if you squeeze out that 25-27 loss, then she's probably a different match," said Richard. "It's all kinds of ifs and buts. That's the game and we'll move on."
It was a similar affair on Friday night at the Currie Center - only a set shorter, though (22-25, 25-14, 25-10, 25-8). UNB surprised the Huskies (6-0) with 25-22 first set win. However, a combination of poor defence and a potent attack saw the Huskies dismantle the Reds, who scored a grand total of 32 points in the final three sets.
"I think we got undisciplined defensively late in the match," said Richard. "We got out of system a couple times we didn't need to and started to push the panic button in the fourth and early in the fifth."
The coach has yet to see his squad keep the intensity up for an entire match.
"We got to stay focused and stayed disciplined for a longer time," he said.
"It's tough. We're in uncharted waters, especially for this program. Our fourth-, third- and second-year girls aren't used to being where we're at. It's new for all of us."
As Katarina Legutky smashed the final point of Saturday's loss into the net, the dejected faces said the winless streak is starting to take its toll.
"After how many losses... you just want to win more and more," said Hunt. "We just got to take it from here, I guess, and hope for a win next time."
Richard did mention he was pleased to see his team play at a much higher level, adding they're getting closer to that first win.
"Regardless of the outcome, though, I thought it was a positive outcome for our team and it was one of our better matches of the year," he said.
Legutky led the way for the Reds with 12 kills and nine digs on Friday and pitched with nine kills and 14 digs on Saturday. Rebecca Glancy also recorded 13 kills and six digs in the loss to Acadia.
The Reds will try and find some consistency when they travel to Cape Breton University and St. Francis Xavier University next weekend.