Fredericton, NB – The St. Thomas University Tommies took the opening match of the 2022 Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association Volleyball Championships 3-0 (25-13, 25-13, 25-23) over the Universite de Sainte Anne Dragons Friday afternoon at the Lady Beaverbrook Gymnasium.
Gustavo Lobato (Aracaju, BRA), showed why he was named the ACAA Player of the Year as he finished the match with a game high 11 kills and 7 service aces, with fellow ACAA All-Stars, Garret Dickson (Miramichi, NB) and Christian Christie (Langley, BC) adding 10.5 and 10 points, respectively. CCAA All-Canadian Alec Cottreau led the Dragons with 10 points.
Dickson set the tone on the fourth point of the match when he smashed a party ball down to make it 3-1 for the Tommies, but the Dragons would battle back to make it 6-6. The Tommies would then go on a 17-4 run, sparked by the strong serving of Lobato, as they would cruise to the 25-13 opening set victory.
The Tommies continued their hot streak by opening up a 10-3 lead on their way to another 25-13 victory. ACAA Coach of the Year, Henri Mallet, says that his team brought a pretty balanced offense today, thanks in part to 3rd year setter, Henry Doucet (Truro, NS). "It was a pretty good team effort. I thought Henry was really good at sharing the ball. I think we almost had four guys with 3 points a set average. It was also our cleanest service game this year for sure, maybe even the last few years."
The third set saw the Dragons fight to the end, opening up a 6-4 lead, and the Tommies would never lead by more than four throughout the set. The set would end with a massive kill from Lobato, giving the Tommies a 25-23 victory, and a 1-0 series lead in the best of the three finals.
"Our level dropped down a little in the third set, but that's volleyball; you're going to have those errors," added Mallet. "If we can clean that up for tomorrow I like our chances."
Game two of the best of three championship series goes Saturday at 1:00pm at the Lady Beaverbrook Gymnasium, if the Tommies win, they punch their ticket to the CCAA Men's Volleyball Championship, but if the Dragons win, game three will go Sunday at 12:00 at the LB Gym.