Women’s volleyball can’t spike in AUS standings
Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan
The women’s volleyball team is battling both injury and youth this season as they try to make playoffs.
January 25, 2012 6:00 AM ADT
The UNB women’s volleyball team was better – last year. Right now the team is at the bottom of AUS standings, with a 0-3 losing record at home, a 1-8 record on the road with a sets won of 7 and sets lost of 33 with only two points.
Now, with only one win in 12 games, one of the losses being handed to them this weekend against Acadia, the question begs to be asked – when will last years’ AUS championship team show up to the court?
The last time UNB played Acadia it was at the Richard J. Currie Center, where they pushed the Axewomen to a five-set match, winning only two sets and finishing with a loss.
“I think our group’s smart enough to know, you know, what we’re up against with some of the injuries we have and the youth of our team. So, we just need (to catch) a break and we’re not getting one,” said UNB head coach John Richard.
This past weekend, the Reds lost all three sets against the Axewomen (10-25, 22-25, 29-31), however, the final two sets saw a closer match than the first one, maybe even showing some signs of the team they were last year.
“We were really slow off the bus and got kind of cranked the first game 25-10, but then really played well I thought. You know, losing 22 and then we held game point two or three times in the third game before we lost 31-29,” Richard said.
“We had a couple opportunities in that Acadia match to prolong that match and just didn’t get a call when we needed a call and didn’t find the floor when we needed to find the floor.”
As Richard said, the team didn’t have a lot of fight or emotion during the first set, leaving room for some seniors on the team to help “rally the troops.”
“To be honest with you, 25-10 is actually a little better than it could have been. I think they had us 10-1, they had us 16-3, they were going and we weren’t even in the gym yet.”
“But we kind of flicked the switch and all of a sudden we were at a 25-22, 31-29 game. The downfall, as I told our team, is the second set needed to be the first and the 29-31 third set needed to be the second,” Richard said.
“And if we could have started it that way we might have been able to prolong that match.”
Even with another loss handed to the V-Reds, Richard is looking at it with optimism.
“I don’t think it’s too bad. I mean all things considered, it’s a challenging year obviously.”
The Reds started off this season on shaky ground to begin with; they have a young team and their key players from last year either graduated or signed contracts in Europe. Amanda Bakker is no longer with the team to add to those two major factors.
That being said, the youth of the team isn’t necessarily a bad part of the team; it is a rough aspect, though. Richard is looking to help the team, so no repetition of this year will filter into the next season.
“It’s not easy, I’m not going to lie to you,” Richard said. “It’s a little bit different from what we’ve been used to, what I’ve been used to for the last, you know, half-dozen years or so. We usually at this time are gearing up to try and grab a bye or something, where we’ve been the last several years.”
“[Or] Challenge for a top two position. But unfortunately that’s not where we’re at. We’re just trying to take it point by point and game by game.”
Some of the wins, Richard said, are due to a change in player position. Their losses, however, can also be attributed to injuries sustained during the season. Key players have been injured, including Katarina Legutky who was injured during a match on the Rock, which has left her out for an undetermined amount of time.
“That’s challenging and frustrating too, the fact that she’s not in our lineup, for the near future.”
But where there is darkness, there is also light, and that light on the team right now can be found in Vanja Mitrovic, as the first-year right side helps the team and builds seniority even in her early years as a V-Red.
“Vanja Mitrovic continues to, most days, lead us in scoring or be right to the top. So that’s obviously a positive for the future. And than [Rebecca] Glancy, [Emma] Hunt, [Monica] Jones, those players continue to be competitive and grow their game every day.”
The Reds are on the road more than they’re home, but the luck may switch in their favour with back-to-back weekends with a home-court advantage.
Next weekend Moncton will make the trip up to Fredericton to play the Reds.
“My final home game as a coach will be in two weeks there and we’ll try and hopefully put ourselves in a position to win a couple of those.”
This weekend Cape Breton University, who stands at a respective 12-8-4 third-place ranking with a 5-1 home record and a 3-3 road record and a sets won of 26 and loss of 18; and StFX with a 12-5-7 and a fourth-place ranking with a home record of 3-4 and a road record of 2-3, with a sets won of 19 and sets lost of 26 will come to the Currie Center to take on the Varsity Reds.
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