Tommies Win Fourth in a Row, 3-0 Over Rams

Fredericton, NB- The St. Thomas University Tommies handed the Dalhousie Agricultural College Rams a 3-0 (25-20, 28-26, 25-16) defeat Saturday afternoon at the Lady Beaverbrook Gymnasium.

This match marked the first ACAA action for both teams following the holiday break.

The Tommies, fresh off of the first CN Tournament victory over the break, jumped out of the gate and opened a 20-9 run, before the Rams would mount a comeback, cutting the Tommies lead to 21-19 at one point, but would come up short in the end.

Tommies head coach Don McKay felt as though the tournament play may have put his team behind the eight-ball coming into this match.

"Playing the four matches in the run of 24 hours really left the girls exhausted on Monday and Tuesday of this week," said McKay following the match. "Wednesday we started to come around and then Thursday and Friday we were finally back up to speed."

The second set saw both teams battling it out, with several lead changes in the early stages. McKay loved the compete level from both teams, especially in the second set.

"It was a great match, both teams had some good moments, and fortunately we had a few more on this day. It was competitive and had some great rallies."

The Tommies well spread offense was led by Jenna DeGooyer who finished with a team high 11 kills, while Marit Zwinselman had a game high 12 kills. STU was helped out by Megan Mills, Hannah Millier and Olivia Ormond, who had 8, 7 and 7 kills, respectively.

The Tommies came into the match without their usual starting setter, Emily Dickson, and weren't sure how much their second setter, Caitlin Jones, would be able to play as she was dealing with shin splints throughout the match. Jones would tough it out and finish with a game high 30 assists.

"Caitlin did a real good job today," said McKay. "With us not being sure how much Caitlin was going to play, we talked with Jenicca Jean about possibly setting too, and how we wanted to run things a little simpler, a little higher for sets, and spread the ball around to our hitters."

The Tommies would close out the game with a 25-16 third set win, moving them to 6-3 on the season. Meanwhile, the Rams fall to 3-5.

Next action for the Rams will be Sunday, January 12^th when they travel to Saint John to face the Seawolves. The Tommies will have to wait until the 25^th of January for their next league action, when they will host the Seawolves.