KINGSTON, Ont. (January 12, 2013) – The Queen's Gaels men's volleyball team (7-3) was in action Saturday afternoon against the Guelph Gryphons (2-8), in their first game of 2013. The Gaels were able to cruise past the Guelph Gryphons in straight sets (26-24, 25-10, 25-19). Queen's currently sits in fourth place in the OUA.
 
The match opened on a rather lackluster note, with three errors. Queen's saw their first offensive productivity from Philippe Goyer (Ottawa) who stifled a Gryphon's attack with a block up the middle. Queen's and Guelph proceeded to exchange points until the Gaels were able to pull ahead in the final points of the set with middle Tyler Scheerhoorn (Belleville, Ont.) making his presence felt upfront with two timely blocks and a tip over the Gryphon defenders. Scheerhoorn closed out the first frame with a service ace.
 
Although Guelph was able to keep the first set close, much in part because of Queen's eight errors, they could not find an answer for the Gaels strong offensive production in the second set. Guelph opened the set with a service error, which gave Queen's some momentum out of the gate. The Gaels were all over the court in the second, and Jackson Dakin (Courtenay, B.C.) illustrated this in one particular rally where he recorded three different digs—eventually setting up offside-hitter Michael Tomlinson (Stratford, Ont.) for a commanding kill, which capped a 11-4 Gaels run. Tomlinson recorded two more kills in the second set to close-out a lop-sided set victory, 25-10. The Gaels stand-out second-year hitter was also named the Gaels player of the game, finishing with a game-high 15 kills, eight digs and three blocks.
 
In the third set it was the Gryphons getting on the board first with a Gaels service error. Guelph continued to make a push, with right-side hitter Winston Rosser (Whitby, Ont.)
and left-side hitter Timothy Warnholtz (Guelph, Ont.) combining for five of the Gryphons 19 points in the third. For the Gaels it was second-year offside-hitter Aaron Nusbaum (Aurora, Ont.)  who was noteworthy in the set, accounting for three of the tricolour's points after the technical timeout. Tomlinson was also pivotal upfront recording two blocks late to close things out for the Gaels, who won the set 25-19—cruising to their first straight set victory of 2013.
 
The Gaels look to build on their performance as they host the No. 10 Waterloo Warriors on Sunday. Game time is set for 2pm in the ARC Main Gym.