Source: Andy Campbell, UNB Athletics
(FREDERICTON, NB) The Dalhousie Tigers scored a straight sets victory over the UNB Varsity Reds on Sunday afternoon, in Fredericton.
The Tigers won with scores of 25-19, 25-16 and 25-17, to sweep a two-match weekend series.
Adam Spragg (Gilford, ON) led the Tigers, registering 29 serve assists and six digs to earn Subway Player of the Match honours.
"It feels pretty good," said Spragg, of their weekend sweep. "We feel like we've been building toward some good things. We've been working on a lot of our mental game, and I think that really showed this weekend, we were pretty resilient."
"It was a good weekend, and we're looking to build on it," he said.
Matthew Donovan (London, ON) had 16 kills, while Jeffrey Walton (Sudbury, ON) added 14.
Ryan Colpitts (Fredericton, NB) led the V-Reds with seven kills and seven digs.
"I don't think the result represents the differences between the teams," said Colpitts. "We didn't bring it, and that's what happens. They're not a bad team, so if we don't bring our game, it doesn't matter who we play, that's going to be the result we get."
Drew Duncan (Winnipeg, MB) also had seven digs for UNB.
The first set was close until Dalhousie fashioned a 3-0 run, pulling out a 21-16 lead on their way to the 25-19 win.
The Tigers rode consistent serving in the second set.
Kobe Shannon (Halifax, NS) led a 4-0 run mid-way through the second, as Dal took a 16-7 to the technical time-out. They won the second set 25-16.
The Tigers built a 7-2 lead early in the third set before UNB was able to rally. The Varsity Reds pulled to within four points, at 13-9, but a 3-0 run helped Dal pull away for good, winning 25-17 and taking the match 3-0.
"It's been a weird year, just playing UNB," said Spragg. "We've played in this gym a lot, we've played here more than in our own gym this semester, so that's been unusual."
With the win, Dal improves to 5-6.
The Varsity Reds are now 3-8, and have lost five straight matches.
Dal will host UNB next Saturday. First serve is scheduled for 7:30pm.
Colpitts can't wait.
"It's good for us, because we're not playing where we want to be, so it's going to be a good test to see if we can make some fixes this week at practice and get better."