University of New Brunswick men’s volleyball team named the AUS champions
Sunday was a good day for the University of New Brunswick as both the women’s as well as the men’s volleyball teams won the Atlantic University Sport championship titles. The cause for jubilation is more so for the men’s team as it was their first title win after the year 1979 and the victory did not come easily. The V-Reds had to fight hard over a five set long match that they played against the Dalhousie Tigers at Halifax.
The V-Reds did not let the three match championship round enter the third match as Dalhousie had no win to give them the opportunity at the trophy. The first match of the series was played at the home ground of the Reds, in which they managed to defeat the Tigers by five sets as well. The set scores at the end of the decisive match were 18-25, 25-19, 25-22, 24-26, 15-12.
A beaming Dan McMorran, the head coach of the V-Reds expressed his sentiments at the end of the match in the following manner: "This is a special time for UNB volleyball, our players, our supporters, and our alumni who have been with us every step. This is for those people as much as it is for us. I've never been more proud of a group of individuals.''
The loss of the match put an end to a Dalhousie era. The Tigers had been the owners of the Atlantic titles for the past 24 straight years. The championship victory also translates into being the first win of the UNB at Dalhousie 15 February of the year 2008. Along with the honour of getting to be named the Atlantic champions, UNB has also earned another prestigious reward. The V-Reds will be acting as the conference representatives at the Canadian Inter-university Sport tournament which is scheduled to take place in the month of March from the 4th till the 6th. The venue of the tournament is the Trinity Western University, situated in Langley.
It wasn’t an easy tack for the V-Reds to come out of the 18-25 first set loss to the Tigers. After a half hearted effort in the initial set of the match, it seemed as if the Reds were doomed to defeat. However, the team rallied together and put in a well coordinated effort in the second set of the match. With their wits about them, the Reds went on to defeat the Tigers by an almost equal score of 25-19. Both the teams were playing at their best in the third set of the game, with no one backing off from the offensive. But he Reds managed to get them another set by ending it at 25-22. Likewise, the last two sets of the final were closely contested. The Tigers won the fourth bur lost the final one at 15-12.
The Tigers now head home with a heavy heart whereas the V-Reds have much cause for celebration.
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