3-1 win for Dalhousie against UNB

On Friday, January 15, the Dalhousie Tigers and the UNB Varsity Reds played at Dalplex for the Tigers' first home game of the New Year. Dalhousie came away with a 3-1 (19-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-17) win against UNB after losing the first set.

The Varsity Reds started the game strong and took the lead right away. UNB played with high intensity with lots of strength and quick plays allowing them to keep their lead. In the first set, UNB had the most kills of the game with 13, but Dalhousie had more attacking opportunities with 25 total attacks in the first set. UNB maintained their lead for the entire first set and took the win at 25-19 over Dalhousie.

Dalhousie's Kristen O'Brien (Truro, NS) made the first kill in the second set followed by a strong block from Matthew Donovan (London, ON) which gave Dalhousie the lead for the first time in the game. Energy was high with the 220 supporters at Dalplex when the teams held up an intense rally during the second set which ended with a point for Dalhousie. The Tigers maintained their lead which brought them up to an eight point difference later in the set and led to a final score of 25-21 for Dalhousie.

The Tigers had a strong start to the third set and Connor Maessen (Dartmouth, NS) helped strengthen their score by making four consecutive serves in a row. Nearing the end of the third set, the Varsity Reds and the Tigers were matching each other point for point. The set ended the same as the second, with a close score of 25-21 for Dalhousie over UNB.

Dalhousie held the lead once again during the fourth set. Connor Maessen, Matthew Donovan, and Jonathan Macdonald (Halifax, NS) held a strong defence with 4, 7, and 5 blocks respectively. On UNB's offence, Ryan Colpitts (Fredericton, NB) led with most kills for the game at 12 and teammate Eivind Andersen (Sardnes, Norway) followed close behind with 11 kills throughout the game. Dalhousie's O'Brien led the Tigers with 11 kills during the course of the game. The Tigers held a seven point lead late in the fourth set which brought them to a score of 25-17, earning them the win for the set and the game.

The final score was 3-1 (19-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-17) for the Tigers over the Varsity Reds. Player of the game for Dalhousie was Harrison Callaghan (Halifax, NS) and player of the game for UNB was Cody Timmons (Lower Sackville, NS). Dalhousie (6-3) and UNB (4-5) will play again on Saturday, January 16 at 2pm in Dalplex.