KAMLOOPS, B.C. (March 12, 2010) – Thanks to a 15 kill performance from Steven Marshall of Abbotsford, B.C., the No. 4 seed Trinity Western Spartans were able to sweep the No. 5 seed Queen's Gaels in the CIS men's volleyball quarter-finals Friday afternoon.
The game opened up with the Gaels jumping on an unsuspecting Spartans squad as they took an early 4-1 lead in the first set. However, Trinity Western responded and after the second technical timeout, they held a 16-11 lead. The Gaels would not get any closer than that as they lost the opening set 25-19.
In the second set, the Gaels began to find holes in the Spartans blocking game and
Bryan Fautley of Oakville, Ont., was able to take advantage. He helped the Gaels storm back to even the set at 22 after they had fallen behind early. But once again, the Spartans showed poise and a key block by Paul Lindemulder of Calgary earned Trinity Western a 25-23 set victory.
Despite being down two games to none, the Gaels found themselves in a similar position as those that they faced in the OUA Final Four tournament and they used that experience to their advantage as they took an 8-6 lead at the first technical timeout. The Spartans would keep the set close following the technical timeout and then used a strong service game from Ben Ball of Abbotsford, B.C., to open up an advantage they would not relinquish. Trinity Western would win the final set and sweep the game with a 25-19 set victory.
Fautley was the Gaels top player on the afternoon as he had 11 kills and two digs. Second Team All-Canadian
Joren Zeeman of Cambridge, Ont., finished the game with nine kills and three digs.
Daniel Rosenbaum of Hamilton led the Gaels in assists with 33.
Although the loss means the Gaels will not play for a medal this weekend, they still have a chance to advance to the fifth place game on Sunday afternoon. Tomorrow, Queen's will face off against the No. 8 Montreal Carabins for a berth in that game. The Carabins are coming off a three set loss to top-ranked Laval in Friday's first quarter-final. The game will get underway at 1:00 pm PST (4:00 pm EST).
