KINGSTON, Ont. (February 18, 2011) - The Queen's Gaels will begin their quest for a women's volleyball title on the road this Saturday as they head to Ottawa to take on the Ottawa Gee-Gees.
The Gaels enter the playoffs as the third seed in the OUA East. Queen's originally had their sights on a first place seed but struggled to find their rhythm in the second half of the season as they failed to win two games in a row in their final ten games of the season.
This season has seen the Gaels led by fourth-year middle
Katie Matthews of Aurora, Ont. Matthews led the Gaels in points this season with 239 and leads the country in solo blocks with 55. In the Gaels last game against Ottawa, Matthews was in a three way tie for most points with 14.5.
Other Gaels looking to make an impact are fourth year
Lorna Button of Newcastle, Ont., and third year
Natalie Gray of Oshawa.
Button has been a strong veteran presence for the Gaels all season. Her 121 kills places her third on the team and she has recorded 10+ points in five of Queen's last seven matches.
Gray finished a close second to Matthews in points this season with 231 to Matthews' 239 and her 191 kills led all Gaels this season. She will be looking to match her performance from the Gaels first matchup against Ottawa, a three set win, in which she recorded seven kills.
The Gaels' opponent Saturday had the strongest finish of all teams in the OUA East as the Gee-Gees went 8-2 in their final ten games to edge out the Gaels for second place in the division. The last time these teams met, the Gee-Gees beat the Gaels in a four set match.
The Gee-Gees are led by first year hitter Myriam English of Ottawa. In her first season in the OUA, English has never scored less than eight points in a match. In two games against Queen's English has put up 10 and 14.5 points respectively.
Other Gee-Gees to look for include Kayle Bell-Hammond of North Gower, Ont. who had 14.5 points the last time these two teams met. Tess Edwards of Kanata, Ont. also had 10.5 points and 32 assists in the Ottawa victory.
The match is scheduled for Saturday February 19 at 5:00 pm.
