Dalhousie takes second win of the weekend
After Dalhousie won the first two sets of the game, UNB put up a strong fight by winning the third and fourth before the Tigers finished the last set to win the game.
On Saturday, January 16, the Dalhousie Tigers played their second game of the weekend against the UNB Varsity Reds at Dalplex. The final score of the game was 3-2 (25-22, 25-17, 21-25, 21-25, 15-10) for the Tigers giving Dalhousie their second win for the weekend.
Dalhousie was first on the scoreboard with a point from Jonathan MacDonald (Halifax, NS) on the kill. From that point on, the Tigers maintained a narrow lead over the Varsity Reds who made some strong kills to keep a close score. UNB's Pascal McCarthy (Fredericton, NB) and Samuel Alves (Melbourne, Australia) led their team with kills in the first set to bring the Varsity Reds into the lead for one point in the set until the teams started to match each other point for point. The set finished with an intense rally and a point for Dalhousie for a final score of 25-22 for the Tigers over the Varsity Reds.
Harrison Callaghan (Halifax, NS) made the first kill of the second set which put Dalhousie in the lead right away. The Tigers continued to set each other up for plays allowing several kill opportunities for Connor Maessen (Dartmouth, NS), Kristen O'Brien (Truro, NS), and Matthew Donovan (London, ON). Later in the set, the Tigers held a ten point lead until the set finished at a score of 25-17 with an excellent tip over the net made by Jonathan MacDonald of the Tigers
Donovan made two strong blocks in a row to get the Tigers their first points of the third set. Pascal McCarthy and Cody Timmons (Lower Sackville, NS) of the Varsity Reds made some great kills to keep the point difference low until they took the lead half way through the set. With some well worked sets made by Mathieu Losier (Fredericton, NB) of UNB, the Varsity Reds took the third set with a score of 25-21 over the Tigers.
By the middle of the fourth set, the Tigers were trailing the Varsity Reds by four points. Late in the period, the Tigers began to close the point gap with some strong blocks made by Donovan however the set went to UNB once again with a score of 25-21.
The fifth and final set, which decided the winner of the game, started with a strong point for Dalhousie with a kill from Maessen. Jonathan MacDonald continued to set his team up for the kills with 44 assists throughout the game. Matthew Donovan and Kristen O'Brien were tied with 15 kills for Dalhousie, but UNB's McCarthy had most kills of the game with 17. Even with McCarthy's strong offence, the final score of the fifth set was 15-10 for the Tigers giving them the win for the game.
The final score was a close 3-2 (25-22, 25-17, 21-25, 21-25, 15-10) for the Dalhousie Tigers over the UNB Varsity Reds. Player of the game for Dalhousie was Matthew Donovan, who dominated with the most points of the game at 21. Player of the game for UNB was Kent Doucette (Tignish, PE) who set up the Varsity Reds with 31 assists during the game.
Dalhousie's next game will be on Friday, January 22 against Montreal for the AUS Interlock Tournament at UNB. UNB's next game will also be on Friday, January 22 and they will be playing Laval in the Interlock Tournament.