KINGSTON, Ont. (November 16, 2014) – On Sunday afternoon the Gaels (3-4) were defeated by the Waterloo Warriors (5-4) in four sets 3-1 with set scores 25-15,25-23, 25-27 and 28-26.
Waterloo opened the scoring in the first set and the points went back and forth between the two teams until the 14-point mark when the Warriors pulled away to take the Gaels 25-15. Queen's had a slow start with their attacks being shut down by the Warriors strong defenseive play.
The Gaels trailed Waterloo throughout the entire second set but just when it seemed like the Warriors had the game in the bag, Queen's turned up the heat to close an eight-point gap to down to one point at 24-23. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to take the set as Waterloo finished with a kill from second year Aaron Wiersman.
In the third set
Markus Trence (Orangeville, Ont.) opened the scoring for the Gaels off a kill catching Waterloo off guard. Queen's came out challenging Waterloo's attacking capabilities with defensive blocks from
Mike Tomlinson (Stratford, Ont.) and
Tyler Scheerhoorn (Belleville, Ont.). The scoring went back and forth with both teams holding their own in rallies but the Gaels managed to overtake Waterloo with an attacking error by a Warrior player to take the set 27-25.
In the fourth frame, again the teams were neck and neck, neither able to pull away bringing the match right down to the wire. Queen's had the opportunity to take the fourth set at game-point but Waterloo's Zachary Doherty produced two back-to-back kills and an unfortunate attacking error by Scheerhoorn ended the game for the evening 3-1 for the Warriors.
On the attack, Tomlinson had the game-high of 16 kills and 10 digs while Trence came close with 15 kills and 12 digs for the Gaels. Queen's libero
Ivo Dramov (Plovdiv, Bulgaria) held down the fort for the Gaels with 20 outstanding digs to stop Waterloo attacks. Waterloo led a strong attack with five of their players getting over 10 kills each against the Gaels.
The Gaels are back in action next weekend on Friday hosting the RMC Paladins at 8pm and on Saturday in exhibition against Canada's senior men's national team at 8pm in the ARC main gym.
