Game recap by: Kirk Jessome
(Halifax, NS) – In men's preseason volleyball action, the Dalhousie Tigers hosted the University of Winnipeg Wesmen. After a hard fought first set, it was all Winnipeg after that, taking the 3-0 victory.
The match started off with some very impressive rallies, with the Tigers being the aggressor, but the Wesmen showing some strong defence with blocks from Daniel Thiessen (Winnipeg, MB).
The teams traded points early, with Jeffrey Walton (Sudbury, ON) claiming kills for the Tigers, while Keegan Teetaert (Steinbach, MB) was heavily involved in the offense for the Wesmen.
Teams were very close through the first half of the set, till Winnipeg jumped to a five-point lead just before the break. The Tigers were able to fight back to within one, thanks to timely kills from Jasper Kristmanson (Fredericton, NB). However, the Wesmen went into the break up 16-15.
Neither team gave an inch for the second half of the set, with the Tigers playing from behind, they forced extra points. But a hard, cross-court hit went off the hands of Matthew Sandeson (Lower Truro, NS) and out of bounds to give the Wesmen the 26-24 win in the first set.
Winnipeg got off to an even better start in the second set, with most of their early points coming off of deflections. However, they had issues with their serving game, giving away important points to service errors.
The Wesmen had a sizable lead at 16-9 at the technical break.
The attacking errors by the Wesmen allowed the Tigers to stay alive late in the second set with many aggressive attacks going long.
With his team down six late in the set, Walton was getting it done on both sides of the ball with great defensive plays, as well as timely kills. It wasn't enough to hold on to the set, as the Wesmen took a 2-0 lead in the match after taking the set 25-18.
After the jumping out quickly in the third set, the Tigers looked like they had new life, but a hard kill from Teetaert set off a string of point for Winnipeg to open up a lead. The run was helped along by the serving of Mikael Clegg (Selkirk, MB) who picked up two aces, as his team went up 11-5.
The Wesmen continued to use their size advantage at the net, and a final kill by William Racano (Winnipeg, MB) sent them into the break up 16-8.
A few very emphatic kills by Kobe Shannon (Halifax, NS) provided a bright spot for the Tigers in the set, but the lead was already too great.
A massive kill by Adrian Dyck (Winnipeg, MB) put the icing on the cake for Winnipeg in this one as they took the third set 25-14, and the straight set victory in the match.
The two teams will square off again tomorrow in a rematch of this one, starting at 7:00pm at the Dalplex.