By: Jack Longo

The Sherbrooke Vert et Or Men's Volleyball team defeated the Dalhousie Tigers at Dalplex on Friday night. Sherbrooke's win was their third in a row and handed Dalhousie their fifth straight loss to begin the season.

The energy in this game was prevalent right from the start. Both teams traded points in the opening stages of the first set, without either being able to gain any momentum.

A long delay with the score 5-4 for Sherbrooke did nothing to stem the back-and-forth nature of the set, in fact, neither team led by more than two points until Sherbrooke got the score to 12-9. Dalhousie then called a timeout in response to Sherbrooke's mini run.

Sherbrooke's pressure at the net on offense and defense affected the Tigers in the first set. Dalhousie made nine attack errors to Sherbrooke's three, with the visitors also having five blocks in the opening set.

The first set remained close until the Vert et Or went on 7-1 run to take it 25-17.

Julien Vanier had five-and-a-half points to lead Sherbrooke in scoring in the first set, while Josh DeYoung (Halifax, NS) had five points for the Tigers.

The Tigers cleaned up their attacking play to begin in the second set, but the Vert et Or continued their strong all-around performance.

The score was tied as late as 13-13, before Sherbrooke took control of the set again. The Tigers had moments of brilliance - particularly when ending a long rally with a hard-fought point midway through the set - but couldn't string enough together to take back the lead.

Sherbrooke continued to dominate at the net, ending the second set with six more total blocks, and won the set 25-19.

It was Zachary Hollands leading the way for the Vert et Or in the second set with six kills. Meanwhile, Dalhousie's Michael Donovan (London, ON) had five kills for the hosts.

Sherbrooke began the third set with even more energy than before. The visitors opened up an early four point lead and weren't troubled until late in the frame. The Tigers continued to fight as a team throughout the third set, but the strength of Sherbrooke's frontline was too much to contain.

Dalhousie did have a couple spells of great play - a four-point run as well as back-to-back points - near the end of the third set to spark hope inside Dalplex that the game would be extended. The Tigers even got the score as close as 23-22 Sherbrooke's favour, but ultimately, the connectivity that Sherbrooke played with led them to win the third set 25-22 and take the game in straight sets.

Sherbrooke's Zachary Moisan was named the Player of the Game with eighth kills and nine and a half total points.

Michael Donovan had 12 kills to lead the way for the Tigers.

The second half of this weekend's back to back between Dalhousie and Sherbrooke comes tomorrow at Dalplex. The game starts at 12:30pm.