Source: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics

(FREDERICTON, NB) After a 96-day layoff, the UNB REDS men's volleyball team made a triumphant return to the court Friday night.

The REDS beat the visiting Dalhousie Tigers 3-1, as the RSEQ regular season resumed for both teams.

UNB won with scores of 25-20, 22-25, 25-20 and 25-19.

"It felt great to be out here again," said blocker Erik Kodrič (Ljubljana, Slovenia), named the REDS' player of the game. "The whole team has been working hard in practice and it paid off. We had a good game plan and we stuck to it."

The two teams engaged in a back-and-forth first set.

Tied 6-6, the REDS went ahead by one on a Bradley Merryweather (New Maryland, NB) block, and extended their lead to 9-6 on a Brad Stewart (Wolfville, NS) block.

With Michael Donovan (London, ON) on the service line, the Tigers scored four straight points to take a 12-11 lead, forcing the REDS to call an early timeout.

The REDS led 16-13 at the technical timeout of the first set, but the Tigers rallied to draw even 16-16.

Back-to-back put-backs by Merryweather pushed UNB back in front 19-16 and propelled the REDS to a 25-20 victory.

The REDS continued their push in the second set, building an early 2-0 lead and extending that lead to 6-2 on a couple of Tigers miscues.

The visitors would rally though, going up 11-10 and pushing that lead to 14-11 to force another REDS timeout.

The hosts rallied to 15-15, but Dal scored the next point to lead 16-15 at the technical timeout.

The Tigers would then fashion a 22-19 lead, on route to a 25-22 set victory.

The back-and-forth nature of the match continued in the third set as the teams were even 7-7 before a short rally helped UNB establish a 9-7 lead.

A huge block by Noah Boudreau (Greenfield, NS) put the REDS ahead 14-9. The first year RED would follow that with an ace to give UNB an 18-10 lead.

Down 20-12, the Tigers rallied with four straight points to trim UNB's advantage to 20-16, but the REDS would go up 24-19 before closing out the set 25-20.

In the fourth, the two teams were tied at 13, 14, and 15 before Dalhousie took a 16-15 lead at the technical timeout.

Out of the break, the hosts pulled even and then ahead.

With the REDS threatening to pull away, a Malachy Shannon (Halifax, NS) kill tied the score 18-18.

UNB scored the next three points to go ahead 21-18 and a Kodrič put-back pushed the REDS lead to 22-18, forcing Tigers' coach Dan Ota to call a timeout.

The REDS were able to continue their push and win the set 25-19 and take the game three sets to one.

"We're just focusing on pressing at all times, and keep going, no matter what," said Kodrič. "They put up a good fight. They were down a couple guys, but still managed to put a good fight, so hats off to them, but I think, in the end, we were better."

Scott Mann (Winnipeg, MB) led the REDS with a game-high 15 digs, while Eduardo Luchese (Rio Grande du Sol, Brazil) had 14 kills.

Donovan led the Tigers with a game-high 15 kills, while Josh DeYoung (Halifax, NS) registered 11 kills and 10 digs.

Quinton Dowling (Waterloo, ON) had a game-high 40 assists for Dal.

"It was good. It was exciting," said Dowling, of the Tigers' return to play. "We've kind of missed that bit of our lives. We were just happy to be out there. Obviously, it didn't go our way, but it was fun."

"Our team made too many mistakes and gave them too many points," he added. "There were some points where we were just trying to get the ball in play and they were causing us problems. It was more our lack of execution than what they did to us."

With the win, UNB's record is now 2-and-7. Dal falls to 1-and-8.

The REDS and Tigers will play the second match of their two-game weekend series on Saturday, at 2:30pm.