Fredericton, NB – The St. Thomas University Tommies needed just three sets to dispatch the visiting Universite Sainte-Anne Dragons 25-16, 25-12, 25-14.
The Tommies jumped out to a hot start in the first set, opening up an 18-5 lead before the Dragons came back with a mini 9-4 run, but eight points would be as close as they would get in the opener.
The second set was a different start, as the Tommies would open up a 12-8 lead before setter, Henry Doucet (Truro, NS), took his team on an eight-point run to open up a 20-8 run. Tommies' head coach, Henri Mallet, was happy to see his setter, and his captain, Christian Christie, bounce back from off games during Saturday's 3-0 win.
"They are both veterans and they weren't happy with themselves yesterday and it was definitely a down game for them yesterday, but it was great to see the way they bounced back today. They're overall game, defensively, Chris passed really well today, and that made a big difference from yesterday's game."
Doucet would finish the match with 28 assists and 4 aces. While Christie, who was coming off a match that saw him have a combined 11 service and attacking errors, finished with 12 kills and only one attack error. Leading the way for the Dragons was Braidey Spinney, who had 10 kills and 2 aces.
The Tommies proved to be too much for the Dragons as they were firing in on almost every level of the game, and Mallet was most impressed with his team's defence on the day.
"Yesterday they served really tough and we didn't like the way we responded in the third set. Today throughout the match all four of our passers did a great job and really gave Henry the opportunity to distribute the ball and if we can do that each game we can be successful."
The Tommies will turn around to play the UNBSJ Seawolves November 27th, while the Dragons will have to wait for December 4th to play the Holland College Hurricanes.
Recap: St. Thomas Athletics