Men’s Volleyball Drops Tight Contest in U SPORTS Quarterfinal

No. 4 Queen’s Men’s Volleyball took on the No. 5 Saskatchewan Huskies in their U SPORTS Men’s Volleyball quarterfinal match, falling in a hard fought four sets (25-20, 19-25, 29-27, 23-25).

In the loss, the Gaels led the Huskies in blocks with 16.5; 29 assisted and two solo.

Through the first, Saskatchewan picked up a lead, but the Gaels stayed close by. They tied the match up at 8 with a big block from Dax Tompkins (Arts).

The Gaels went on to tie up the match two more times, first with a kill from Alex Brdarevic (Engineering) and another from Zig Licis (Computer Engineering). Queen’s then pulled into the front and forced the Huskies to call the first time out of the match.

Maintaining a serious net presence, the Gaels pulled ahead and sealed the set with a service ace from Reed Venning (Arts & Science)

The Gaels also stayed clean from the service line with two less service errors than Saskatchewan in the first set.

Saskatchewan proved tougher to top in the second set and battled to get through the Queen’s block. The Gaels struggled to answer the Huskies big attacks and fell 25-20.

The Gaels came out in the third with renewed vigor and went point for point with the Huskies.

Big kills from Licis and Tompkins pushed the set to extra points, however, Saskatchewan ultimately bested Queen’s.

With a chance at the championship match on the line, the Gaels pushed forwards and secured a lead in the fourth set. The Huskies tied it up, and then the match proceed in a point for point marathon.

With grit and determination from both sides of the net, Queen’s dropped their final set of the match.

During the match, Venning put up 14 kills and one service ace and received player of the match honours. Brdarevic added another five kills with an efficiency of .833.

The Gaels return to play in the consolation semifinal on Saturday, Mar. 22, taking on the No. 1 Winnipeg Wesmen. Fans can catch the action on CBC sports.