KINGSTON, Ont. (February 24, 2011) – After breezing through their OUA Quarter-final match, the No. 10 Queen's Gaels men's volleyball team will continue their defence of their OUA championship this weekend at the OUA Final Four tournament in London.

The Gaels open up the tournament Friday night when they battle the No. 9 McMaster Maruaders in the first semifinal beginning at 5:00 pm at Alumni Hall on the campus of the University of Western Ontario.
The game will be broadcast live on SSN Canada. 

In the other semifinal, the hosts, the No. 6 Western Mustangs, take on the Guelph Gryphons at 7:30 pm.

Queen's began their playoff run last Saturday with a win when they knocked off the Waterloo Warriors in straight sets on home court. Joren Zeeman of Cambridge, Ont., and Bryan Fautley of Oakville, Ont., both had strong games for the Gaels as they recorded 12 and 10 kills respectively. Michael Amoroso of Toronto, was also solid for Queen's, finishing with nine kills and two solo blocks in the victory.

The victory over Waterloo was the Gaels eighth win in their last nine games as Queen's continued their strong late season play. However, the Gaels only loss during that time period came at the hands of their upcoming opponent, the Marauders.

Queen's and McMaster met on two occasions this year with the Marauders coming out on top in five sets in both matches. Their last meeting was at the ARC back on February 12, 2011, when McMaster overcame a two sets to one deficit to knock off the Gaels. Zeeman led Queen's in the match with 25.5 points but it was the Marauders balanced offensive attack that proved to be the difference. Four Marauders finished with double digits in kills led by Michael Sjonnesen's (Cambridge, Ont.) 16.

With McMaster's two wins over the Gaels this season, the Marauders have now won the last six meetings with the Gaels, including playoffs, dating back to the 2008-09 season. If the Gaels are able to snap this streak Friday, it will set them up to play for their fourth provincial title in the last six years.

To do that, Queen's will lean on the hitting duo of Zeeman and Fautley to continue their solid play down the stretch. Amoroso will be looked upon to held shutdown the McMaster middles while Alex Oneid of Ottawa, will be relied upon to keep balls alive for the Gaels attackers.

Defensively, the Gaels will look to shut down Kevin Stevens of Winnipeg, who led the Marauders in kills this season with 213.