Fredericton, NB - The St. Thomas University slayed the undefeated Université Saint Anne Dragons in straight sets Saturday night at the Lady Beaverbrook Gym. Set scores were 25-14, 25-19 and 25-17. Adam McDougall (Calgary, AB) led the Tommies with 13 points, posting 10 kills and adding two service aces. Rookie Ralph Fiset (Calgary, AB) had 24 assists and four service aces for 7.5 points. Alec Cottreau of the Dragons led his team with nine points.
Tommies' head coach Henri Mallet didn't know how else to describe his feelings after his team took down the first-placed team in convincing fashion other than saying it felt good.
"They're a really good team, so we weren't sure how it was going to play out," Mallet said, before pausing to think of how he felt. "Yeah, it feels good."
The Tommies took control nearly right away, scoring four straight points after an error to give up the first point of the match. They'd get to a 15-9 lead before scoring four straight for the second time in the set to get out to a 19-9 lead and finished the set off a USA error, winning 25-14.
Their momentum kept up, jumping to a 4-0 in the second set. A timeout from the Dragons wasn't enough to kill the momentum - STU answered nearly every USA point with a run of their own, taking the second set 25-19, allowing the Dragons to only three sonsecutive points once.
A block by the Dragons would seemingly give them life in the third set, cutting the set lead in half, 10-5. Jacob Tratch (Saskatoon, SK) would answer the bell, blocking a Dragon attempt to get the point back for the Tommies. Tratch slammed home one of his five kills just moments later to boost the STU lead up to six, as the Tommies cruised to a 25-17 set win. McDougall ended the game after rising over the net to earn one last point.
"He's one of our leaders," Mallet said of McDougall. "We're a young team with a lot of first and second years, so we lean on guys like [Brendan] Murphy and [McDougall] to make key plays."
The Tommies are now 3-1 while the Dragons are 4-1. The Tommies and Dragons will be back on the court at the Lady Beaverbrook Gym the next day at 12:00.
