(FREDERICTON, NB) The UNB REDS earned their first win of the season with a strong, straight sets win, 3-0 ,over the Memorial Sea-Hawks.
UNB won with scores of 25-11, 28-26 and 25-10.
Catherine Burns (Fredericton, NB) led UNB with a game-high 33 assists and added 15 digs. She was named Subway Player of the Game.
"We definitely were looking forward to putting into play what we have been practicing," said Burns. "We have made a lot of strides, a lot of improvements and we have a lot of new girls so I know they were excited to win tonight."
Kristen Burns (Mississauga,ON) added 15 digs of her own, along with a game-high 11 kills, for the REDS, while Emma Burns (Fredericton, NB) had nine kills and 11 digs.
Erin Grabka (Corner Brook, NL) had 13 digs and Sarah Trowbridge (Sunnyside, NL) had six kills in the loss for Memorial.
The match was played to 357 masked and fully-vaccinated fans at UNB's Currie Center.
The REDS capitalized on the Sea-Hawks having some early difficulty returning and making serves to start the first set 5-0, a lead they would only grow as they took the first set convincingly, 25-11.
The Sea-Hawks would start better in the second set, trailing just 6-5 early on, before the REDS put five straight on the board to open up a similar lead.
With the score 18-14 REDS in the second set, the game was interrupted for more than an hour when a fire alarm sounded in the facility.
The Currie Center was evacuated safely and the Fredericton Fire Department cleared the premises of any danger before the match resumed.
After the delay, the Sea-Hawks would close the gap and force the REDS to deuce three times, take their only lead of the match at 26-25, but would fall short of the comeback as UNB scored three straight points to take the set 28-26 and a 2-0 lead.
UNB would fully regain their momentum from there, winning the third set 25-10 to take the match.
"The fire alarm definitely threw a dagger in it [the game], the momentum was gone and it was a roller coaster for sure. But once we picked the momentum back up it was a really fun game to play," said Catherine Burns.
UNB now sits at 1-2 on the season while Memorial is still winless at 0-4.
The two teams meet again Saturday. Game time is 4:00pm.
RECAP BY: Jonathon James/for UNB Athletics
PHOTOS BY: Fran Harris/for UNB Athletics